Kiss Me At Midnight
by sharonroslin
Summary: Sets in The Closer and progress to Major Crimes. Continues from "One Night Two Strangers". After that blind date, in which they surprisingly found each other, something had started to develop, a friendship, or maybe more? Thanks to my awesome beta Elizabeth. Cover image was drawn by magnificent Elena for this story!
1. Chapter 1

The rain was washing away everyone's plan for a great walk on a Friday night. It had become so heavy and persistent that Sharon and Andy were now running to his car, seeking shelter from it.

"Phew," Andy wiped away drops from his forehead. "Thank God, we walked in the direction where my car was parked,"

"Yeah, my car is on the other side," Sharon was looking outside hoping that the rain would stop immediately.

"Hey, I have to go that way anyway. I can give you a ride to it so you get just partially wet again, instead of completely," he offered her a charming smile, and he was so attractive under the dim light of neons in the street. Less than a few minutes ago, they had shared such a passionate kiss, she couldn't still believe she actually did that. She let her guard down and let him enter into her comfort zone.

Sharon had accepted that short ride to her car, it was raining too heavily for her to be able to walk on high heels without falling. And as soon as they had arrived to it and she had tried to start the engine, it hadn't started.

"Damit!" Andy had left when she had gotten inside the car, and getting out to look for help was out of the question. She nervously threw out the inside of her purse seeking for her phone.

One ring. Two rings. "Well, I didn't think you'd miss me so badly after only five minutes after we parted," he was annoying but very sexy when he teased her.

"I do not! But I have a situation here and I don't know what to do,"

"Don't move!" He hung up without letting her to say any more words. It had passed just a few minutes when Andy's car parked in the empty spot in front of hers, and he got out to run into hers. "Okay, what is the problem?"

"The problem is that I have a very old car, and I don't have the money to spend for a new one, and this thing won't start," Sharon was visibly nervous.

"It's alright," Andy took her hands to stop them from gesturing. "Here is what we do. It's raining heavily outside and we don't have space or the right conditions to try and see what the problem is, so now you get into my car with me," he pointed to his car just parked in front of them, "I drive you home and tomorrow morning I take your car to a garage," Sharon was looking at him puzzled. "I have the day off, don't worry! Just doing a favor as a friend, okay?" He waited for her to shake her head and walked out of the car.

As Sharon entered Andy's car, she was surprised to find it in perfect order. She'd expect him to be messy, like most of men, his own partner for example, instead she found it rather comfortable to sit in it. It smelled of clean and fresh, and not a single piece of paper or pack of food was thrown anywhere.

"What?" The whole drive passed in silence, with Sharon inspecting the car and Andy smiling stealthily watching her doing it. He finally broke the silence, "You are eyeing around for something compromising?" He laughed, so he wasn't actually mad at her.

"It's… odd, your car is tidy and that is odd for a man,"

"I am the _one of a kind_ type," Sharon had pointed him to park because they had arrived. "Here? Okay" Andy signaled he was going to enter the parking lot and stopped the car.

The rain hadn't stopped one moment, and it didn't seem like it was going to end any time soon. "Andy, you cannot drive home in this rain," Sharon broke the silence between them.

"How do you…? Oh right. You have my files,"

"Yes! I know where you live. And where your family lives." She looked embarassed now, "my daughter is visiting, but she can sleep with me and we have a spare room. I cannot let you drive for such a long distance. It's not safe,"

Andy looked at her, her concern was sincere and he found it rather cute. She was worried like a _girlfriend_ , "To be honest, I am a little tired to drive. But you don't need to bother your child. I can sleep on the couch," he had decided to accept the offer. "Although, I don't have anything to wear,"

"One of my son's pajamas will be good," Sharon chilled his allusive smile with a few words.

As they entered the elevator, the embarassement on Sharon's face made even more visible on the lights. "So, what exactly am I in front of your daughter?" He questioned. "A friend, a collegue, a boy…"

"A Friend!" She rushed to answer.

Andy nodded his head in agreement, "Friends.. with benefits?" He asked then.

" **NO**! Friends. Just friends!" Sharon thought that the moment was never ending. More than 16 floors, it had seemed 200.

"But you kissed me," Andy observed.

" **You** kissed me!" Sharon was hoping that climbing had ended much sooner.

"No, no. I remember vividly that you took my face in your hands, got closer to me and…"

"I get it. I get it." She rubbed her temples, "this wasn't such a clever idea."

"Which one? Kissing me, denying you did or inviting me to stay for the night?" Andy was having a lot of fun seeing her not focused and not always having a prompt answer. "Hey, Sharon. Relax! I will not tell your kid you fell in love with me in just one night,"

"It was **surely** a bad idea," the doors finally opened and Sharon rushed out as if she wanted to get rid of him.

Andy walked behind her with his hands in his pockets and smiling. When he reached her by the door, for a few seconds he smelled the rain in her hair, and a delicate touch of roses, it was probably her perfume. He smelled that in the house as well, as the door opened and they entered it.

The lights were on, and so was the television. Emily was on the couch zapping from channel to channel. "Hey mom," she stood up moving away the blanket away from her legs. "And mom's date, hello!" She waved at the man standing in the hallway next to her mother.

"Ha! That is funny, this is Andy," Sharon cleared her voice. "Lieutenant Andrew Flynn, and he is…" she paused and moved nervously to put down her purse and turn away from her daughter's look. "He is staying here for the night," she turned to Andy quickly, "I'll get you a towel." Sharon disappeared in the hallway and into a door.

Emily was left standing with the man looking at her. She smiled at him, "Excuse me a moment, mooooom!" She went looking for her mother.

"Sure, I'll stand here feeling totally awkward," he whispered.

"Mom," Emily entered the bathroom door and closed it behind her. "When I set you up for a blind date, it was only for you to have a casual and fun night out. Not to bring in your date for doing-" she closed her eyes disgusted by her own thought. "Okay, I don't wanna think what you may be doing. Why is he here?"

Sharon was nervously looking for a towel big enough for Andy to dry himself from the rain, "Because you, my dear daughter, set me up with a collegue of mine and it's raining like hell outside and he lives quite far from here, and I could not let him drive in this storm, so here he is."

"Wait what? He works with you?" Emily was surprised.

"Yes, and don't tell me you didn't know it. He has written it on his profile for sure. You must have known it and you set me up with him, anyway,"

"No mom, really he didn't. He only wrote A.F., he didn't even put his full name on there, I would have never," now Emily was as well nervous as her mother. "What a damn situation,"

"Don't use that word," Sharon admonished her daughter pointing a finger towards her face and finally left the bathroom. "Here, I found this you can wash up and I will get you something to wear for the night," Sharon quickly handed the towels to Andy and ran away in another room again.

Andy stood there looking at her, and Emily walked towards him. "So you work with my mom," Andy nodded to her while putting down the towels and taking off his jacket. "Have we ever met before? My mom always tells me that she used to bring me to work when I was a kid, but I barely remember it."

"Umm yeah, I used to play with you, sometimes… the space shuttle ride," Emily looked at him puzzled. " _Make me fly to the moon, higher, higher_ ," Andy tried to emulate the voice of a kid screaming.

Sharon entered the room just that moment, "Emily don't bother our guest, Andy here are your clothes, the bathroom is down there, the last door on the right." She had thrown him the clothes and was pushing him to move away to the bathroom. Sharon didn't want him to talk with Emily more than the conventional greetings.

Emily watched him vanishing into the bathroom and her mother running to the kitchen to hide, "Well he seems very sexy," she started to tease her.

"No he is not! And you will not talk to him,"

"What is wrong with you, mom?" Emily was laughing at her mother's attempts to hide something. "You know, for a great police officer as you are, chasing the bad guys and making them confess, you are not that good at hiding your own emotions on your face," Sharon had placed a bottle of water in front of her daughter, and Emily took a sip from it. "You like the guy, mom!"

Sharon looked at Emily with an irritated look, "Emily Jane Raydor, you will listen to me carefully." She pointed her finger to her daughter's face, "I do not like him." Sharon took her bottle of water and moved away from Emily.

"Powerful speech," her daughter mocked her. "If you don't like the guy, then why is he spending the night with you?"

"Here, he is spending the night **here** , not with me." She stated, "and because outside there is a terrible storm." Sharon heard the noise of the lock opening from the bathroom door, indicating that Andy was done dressing and coming out. She lowered her voice almost in a whisper to her daughter, "We had a dinner and I cannot say it wasn't pleasant and funny. But we are collegues and that is pretty much where our relationship boundaries will stop. Andy," she turned with a smile to the man approaching.

Emily smiled like her mother and getting closer to her, to give the goodnight kiss, she whispered in her ear, "Do you call **all** your collegues by first name?" She printed her lips on her mother's cheek and turned to Andy. "Lieutenant Andy Flynn, was nice to meet you and have a good night," Emily disappeared in the hallway towards the guest room, giving one last look at her mother standing there, embarassed, in front of a man that she called only a collegue, and who was wearing her son's pajamas. It was too amusing not to laugh sarcastically at it.

Sharon and Andy remained silent in the living room. Sharon was all red in the face, as she was sure that Andy had understood what her conversation with her daughter was all about, and she had to admit to herself it was weird to see a man, who was her collegue, standing in front of her dressed for the night. Especially after she had expressely told him hours before that it wasn't going to end with them having sex. It wasn't going to happen, but nonetheless he was in her house. "So," Andy broke the silence, "I think I will need a pillow and a blanket,"

"Oh Gosh, you are right," Sharon had absently forgotten to grab those things as well, and she ran down the hallway to her bedroom and returned, almost running and handling them to him. "I am sorry, I totally forgot. Well," she motioned her hands nervously, "have a good night then."

"Goodnight," Andy let out of his wish with a louder tone, as Sharon was already running away from him. He heard the shutting of the door distinctly and smiled. He had to admit to himself that he loved to see her nervous and losing it, she seemed more human and less of the robot she used to be at work.

Before he settled in for sleeping, he wandered around the house; he had never been in her apartment before. He would have imagined a bleak house, with no frames on the walls, and lifeless furnitures, no colors; instead he found himself in a rather comfortable place, with many colors coming from the reds of the sofa-chairs, and the brown of the couch, and frames of her children placed on all the fine piece of furnitures. In only one night, Andy had discovered a completely different Sharon Raydor, and this new one was not so bad after all.

Just as he turned off the lights, he moved quietly and touching everything while walking, too scared to trip into something and make a mess. Thankfully, for once, the storm outside was helping him to see through the darkness with its lightings. As he finally placed his head on the pillow, he fell asleep with the sound of the rain tapping on the windows.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**  
 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

The morning after Sharon had rushed Andy to get up and dressed to leave. She did not want Emily to wake up and find them having breakfast or something, because it would have given the wrong impression or worse strengthen her daughter's idea that she liked him. She did not like him.

They had driven to her car, that was parked close to the restaurant they had dinner to last night, and together they took it to the garage Andy had said it belonged to someone he knew and could do a good job. He had sent her to work with his car, and Sharon had been very nervous about it because then people would have talked about them, but what alternatives did she have? With a bit of luck, nobody would have noticed that the car parked in her lot was different from the one she used to leave there, and very similar to the one of another police officer, who wasn't even supposed to be at work today.

"May I come in?" a gentle knock on the door distracted Sharon from her papers filling. It had been a relatively quiet day, nothing too much to follow up with Major Crimes and she could have dedicated some time to her regular activities in her division.

She lifted her head to see Andy standing by the door, "Lieutenant, sure. Please take a seat. What can I do for you?" She wasn't sure if anyone around was listening, she had to be formal and ignoring the fact that Andy was standing in front of her, dressed as the night before, and handling her the keys of her car. He closed the door behind him, before he took a seat. Sharon let go of a breath. "It took you a long time to give me my car back," she noted without looking him in the eye, and putting her signature on her last paper.

"Your car is a sacred mess, Sharon…" he watched her eyes open wide, "Captain. Sorry!" They had agreed to call each other by first name at dinner last night, but it never had to happen at work. She was still Captain Sharon Raydor to him.

"Hmmm," Sharon didn't say much words. "Well thank you for taking care of that," she turned on her chair and took her bag on her knees. "How much do I own you?" Andy waved her off, he didn't care to be paid back from her, Sharon had insisted a bit more but she had surrended when he had shown determined not to be paid back. They exchanged each others' keys and as Andy was standing to leave he had a thought.

"What are you doing tonight?"

Sharon looked at him with a puzzled look, "Finishing here and having dinner at home with my daughter. Why?"

"Well, if I may. I would like to take you and your daughter out for dinner," he leaned on her desk and placed his hands on it.

Sharon kept looking at him questioning his intention. What was he thinking? Taking them both out for dinner? What was it? A date with family? "Absolutely not, Lieutenant!" She was outspoken, but soon she realized it came off rude and he had only been nice after all. "I mean, thank you for your offer, but Emily will be leaving tomorrow and I want one last night with her. But it was a nice offer," she gave him a smile but it seemed as awkward to her as it was to him.

Andy shrugged, "Okay. Well thank you for letting me stay on the couch last night," he reached the door and turned the door knob, "have a nice last night with your daughter tonight!" He smiled at her.

Sharon watched him for a few seconds, and he seemed sincere in his wishes. It made her feel bad for how she had replied just a few minutes ago, so harshly and rude towards his nicery. "Andy," she stood up and reached the door by his side, to close it again. "I really-" she hesitated a moment trying to find the right words. "I really enjoyed our dinner, I'm not lying, it was pleasant and funny and you made me laugh, which doesn't happen often down here." She let go of a breath, "but the truth is that it's complicated, and I outrank you here at work, and I would like to still keep my professional life separated from the private one, and I understand that last night seemed something different, but I…"

"Hold on," Andy interrupted her. "You kissed me," he watched as her expression changed to anger. "Okay we kissed, but really that meant nothing. It was just the moment, and the rain and you drank a little bit. It's all fine, **Captain**!" She heard an emphasis on him calling her by rank that she didn't like. Was he playing the defensive because he had been hurt by her words, or was he serious about meaning nothing? "So it was a dinner, one night and just good old time friends again, deal?"

Sharon was still looking at him puzzled, but she let it go by the feelings of the moment, "Okay!" She held and shook the hand he had offered.

 **Deal** , they were just friends.

On her way home from work, Sharon couldn't avoid thinking about that conversation and all the words that Andy had said. She didn't understand why, but somehow they hit her hard, she convinced herself more and more that her first instinct had been all right, he was just playing with her, like he had been playing with any other woman before. Just a _fling_ of a night.

But most importantly, why was this bothering her so much? It had been her who had made it clear that it was nothing more than a dinner between two "friends", so why now she was dedicating so much time thinking of him? Nonetheless, Andy had been clear about it meaning nothing, and Sharon convinced herself it was better to let it go, to not think about it anymore and move back to her boring routine in the office, where everyone had seen her as the wicked witch, and nobody actually had had any interest in sharing time or a word with her. It was better like this.

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

"Flynn?" Provenza found his partner by the elevators, "What the hell are you doing here on your free day?" Andy was trying to find a valid excuse for his presence there, but it didn't matter because the old man didn't give him the time to speak, "I forgot my hat, follow me you have to tell me all about last night," he had then said while walking back to the murder room. Andy had thought about jumping into the elevator that had just arrived to the floor and disappear, but he knew he couldn't escape the post-date talk with him. Provenza was such a _gossip_ when it was about other people's private lives.

As he followed his partner and entered the murder room behind him, he surprisingly found them all there still writing their papers. "Hey Lieutenant," Gabriel was always welcoming when someone entered, no matter on a bad day or case, he always had a nice way to greet others.

"Lieutenant, what are you doing here?" Chief Johnson came out of her office, surprised to see Andy there.

"I-" Andy quickly spotted his scarf on the chair of his desk and thought it was a nice excuse to explain his presence, "I forgot my scarf here yesterday, I stopped by to pick it up." He moved to his desk, breathing with relief of finding a good excuse. If he had even mentioned having met with the Captain, she would have killed him for sure.

"So? Last night?" Provenza pressed again wanting to know about his date.

"Oh right, you had a blind date, Lieutenant!" Julio was curious to know about it as well.

"You told everyone?" Andy was looking at Provenza.

"Of course I did, that's what I always do. You shouldn't have told me in the first place, if you didn't want others to know,"

"You are right, I shouldn't bother to tell you things and think that as partner for years **and a friend** you would keep it to yourself, my bad!" Andy raised his left hand while replying him sarcasticly. He thought quickly of an answer. If he had told them she hadn't shown up, Provenza would have started to say the worst about a woman he didn't even have any idea who it was, and it would have bothered Andy. If he had told them the truth, that he actually had met with his blind date and it had turned out to be Captain Raydor, Provenza would have gone mad telling him he had passed to the dark side, and called him an idiot as always and possibly a traitor of his honor too. Because somehow Provenza saw Captain Raydor has the worst of his enemies. He chose for a white lie, not entirely lying but hiding the most important part. "Nice dinner, we chatted a bit and then I took her home,"

"And…? Do I have to pull the words out of your mouth?" Provenza showed impatience, "Details. How did she look. What is her name. Will you see her again. What happened when you brought her home, details."

Andy let go of a breath, already exhausted with their curiosity. "Brown hair, light eyes, nice legs. Nothing happened. I won't see her again," he said it as quickly as possible "can I go now? Or do I need to call a lawyer?"

"If it comes to that to make you speak, you have the right to tell everything, anything you say can and will be use against you whenever I want. You have the right to an attorney, if you can't afford one I will be your personal one," Provenza walked closer to him. "Now don't you wanna say everything to your attorney? Anything else I should know?"

Andy got closer to him too, and with a challenging look he smiled at him, "In case you didn't know, you are impossibly irritating." He took his scarf, "And I have told you everything that needed to be said, have a good night everyone!" He left them there, walking towards the elevator and with no more said about his date.

Andy didn't walk too far before his phone started to ring, and taking it from his pocket, the display showed an interesting name, "Captain Raydor, what can I do for you, tonight?" He teased her. It had seemed clear to him, by their previous talking, that she didn't want to be more than collegues, so knowing that she had left the building, heading home to have a dinner with her daughter, and reading her name on his display, confused him a little.

"Lieutenant, I would like to exchange a few words with the gentleman who fixed my car," she sounded sarcastic as well. "Because I didn't drive further than a few miles before it stopped and it wouldn't turn back on,"

"Oh," he said surprised. "Text me where you are, I'll pick you up,"

"No, Lieutenant I-" he had hung up already. Sharon was irritated by the whole situation. She had just put out of her mind about their speech and now she had to see him again. _Damn that moment she had ever decided to stay for that date._

After just a few seconds she sighted at someone knocking at her window, "You need help?" A man showed up. She didn't know him, he must have been just walking by and saw her signaling she was stopping in the middle of the street,

"Oh, no thank you. I'm waiting for help. My car won't start anymore," she smiled gently but securely staying into her vehicle. Sharon was no fool, it was dark outside, and looking around there wasn't too many people walking. She had a gun, of course, and could defend herself, but she would be cautious and careful about using her weapon.

"Oh let me see if I can help you," the man opened the door for her and Sharon cursed her mind not to have locked it.

"It is really not necessary, trust me. My helper will be here within minutes," she insisted. The situation was giving her a lot of agitation.

"Maybe I will fix it and you can call back your help and let them know it's fixed," the man seemed to be very insisting, and Sharon started to register in her mind all possible details about him: white male with pale skin, and dark hair. He was wearing a common pair of jeans and a sweater with some baseball team.

"Is everything alright?" At that moment Andy arrived, and Sharon hadn't been happier to see him now. She let go of a breath.

The man lifted his head up, "She was in trouble and I stopped by to help her," he said.

"Very nice of you, but I can take it from here. Thank you very much, sir!" Andy offered him a hand to shake, and only when the man had left he turned to Sharon. "Beautiful woman in a deserted street at night, bad match!" He entered her car and tried to start the engine, "Let's see what's happening to this baby here."

"I wouldn't have stopped in a deserted street at night, if your friend had done a good job with it. Whatever you paid him for it, it was wasted," she replied annoyed. "And I had everything under control before, without you coming and saving me like a prince charming on his white horse. I can defend myself!"

Andy got out of the car, "I am sure of that. I was actually saving the guy from being beaten by you!" Andy eyed an empty spot to park the car, "Now would you kindly get in the car and drive it while I push it to that spot? I will check with him what's wrong with it tomorrow, and I will let him know you think that this is still a good car," he offered her a smile.

Sharon got into the car as he told her, muttering something Andy couldn't understand, but it was rather amusing to him to see her getting angry again. He found her fascinating when she was pissed off.

After they had managed to park the car, Sharon had gotten into Andy's and they were driving to her place. Andy was whistling a motive while looking at her from time to time, "Andy?"

"Hmm,"

"Thank you for _saving_ me," she smiled but never looked him in the eyes.

"That guy was really done for," he smiled back at her, "I have seen you fighting in the gym," now he looked more allusive than else. "I wouldn't want to be in his position," Sharon burst into a laugh. "I was **really** trying to save him. He should be the one thanking me for it,"

When she was done laughing she replied to him with a smile on her face, "Well then thank you for not saving me there but driving me home,"

"Ah no worries! You saved me from _Provenza the district attorney_ , questioning me about my date last night,"

Sharon opened her eyes wide, "What-what did you tell him about?"

By the time Andy was giving her an answer they had arrived to her place, and her daughter was waiting down the street pointing to her watch, "Mom, it's damn late where were you? Oh Andy, hi!" As soon as she saw the man driving she started to smile, "You are joining us tonight?" she asked.

"Oh no sweetie, the Lieutenant just drove me here. My car stopped and thankfully he was around there to drive me," Sharon said nicely getting out of the car. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

"That scrap-iron stopped again? Mom, you have to face the truth and give that up." That moment Emily looked a lot like Andy, "How are we going to the movies if we don't have a car?" She then asked.

Andy still hadn't left and was enjoying the moment very much. He roared his car's motor, "I have a smoking vehicle right here, and we would like to take you ladies wherever you want," he said. "Jump in it, Emily. You will be at the movies in no time, I promise!"

"Cool!" Emily didn't wait her mother to say anything and got into the car in the backseat. Sharon had no other options than getting back in next to him.

"Okay, thank you! But you didn't have to."

"Hey, no big deal! Besides you are offering a dinner and a movie, it couldn't go better than this," Andy exited the parking lot and they were again on the road.

"I thought you had invited me and my daughter for dinner," she said.

"I did, and you declined. So it's on you. You had to accept that offer, Captain!" He replied sarcasticly.

In the backseat, Emily was having a lot of fun to see that scene, she could barely contain laughing out loud, "I adore him, mom!"

Sharon didn't say anything, just turned and looked at her daughter. It was happening exactly how she hadn't wanted it to happen: she thought they were dating and that she liked him!

After they had arrived and paid for their tickets, Emily had left them to buy the popcorns and drinks as she went to the toilet, "So. Two nights, two dinners. Are you sure we are not dating?" Andy teased her.

"Shut up!" Sharon replied annoyed as expected, "you shouldn't even be here. It's all your fault and your friend's one. If he had fixed my car as he had to, you wouldn't be here!" The line kept moving.

"Well we didn't force you to buy that car with a gun to your head," before she could say a thing about it, Andy placed a hand behind her back. At first she shivered, she didn't understand it, but his warm hand on her back had an effect on her.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"You see that guy there?" He pointed to a man standing in the line behind them and looking at them, "He's checking on you. So I let him know, we are together!" He whispered close to her ear and that gave her another shiver.

She had to take a deep breath to come back to her senses and reply, "So let him look and move your hand away. We are not together, you are just standing next to me."

Andy did as he was asked to and clasped his hands behind his back, "You drive her to places, save her from individuals and she treats you like that. Ah women! What do you do to make our knees shake," he said that out loud and the line started to laugh softly.

Sharon smiled too, she didn't reply, but she smiled at his words.

-O-O-O-O-O-O-

The night had been lovely. They had enjoyed the romantic comedy Emily had picked for her and her mother, they had shared popcorns and a few times Sharon had found Andy looking at her in the dark of the theater, as she was spying on him with the back of her eye.

"I told him my date had great legs," he had only said that to her, whispering into her ear, before the movie had started. And it had made Sharon blushing.

"Thank you for the company, Andy. I hope to meet you again next time I visit," Emily placed a kiss on Andy's cheek while walking to the doors of the building. He was standing in front of his car and waving to Emily.

Sharon hesitated a bit before talking, "Maybe you are right about the car. I should consider getting a new one." She gave him the keys of her car.

Andy smiled, "I don't mind picking you up in the morning and driving you back home. We are friends, right?"

"Oh I can take a cab, until I find a good one," Sharon waved him off.

"Please, let me do this." Sharon had bowed her head, embarassed by being there alone with him. He lifted her chin up with his finger, "At least I get to spend some time with my friend Sharon, like this." He smiled again.

"Alright," she surrendered and let him have this wish. "Emily leaves early in the morning, she takes a bus to the airport, I can be ready by 7?"

"I will be on time, Captain!" He leaned in on her and kissed her cheek, "have a goodnight, friend Sharon!"

Andy left and Sharon stayed there waving goodbye and smiling. It was going all to be very complicated, but she had to admit to herself she was enjoying it all very much.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**  
 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Andy arrived to Sharon's condo only with two minutes delay and found her down the street already, waiting in her trench coat and holding two travel mugs in her hands. He parked the car just in front where she was standing and, without turning off the engine, he climbed off the car to run on her side and open the door for him. "Your carriage is here, _Milady_!" he gestured to her the entrance of the car, with his free hand.

Sharon smiled thanking him with a nod and got inside, sitting comfortable and wearing her seat-belt. "I thought you might enjoy some coffee," she smiled as he entered the car and offered him a mug. "Black coffee, with two sachets of sugar and one spare in case you need more," Andy was impressed. It had happened only once that they had met at the cafeteria at work and she might have heard his order back then. Incredible to believe she remembered a thing of many years ago.

Andy accepted the coffee and sipped a first time, "Ahh," he said with pleasant taste of coffee in his mouth. "Now tell me that you will buy me lunch and I will propose to you," he smiled.

"I am a married woman, Lieutenant!" Sharon replied calmly knowing he was joking and drinking her coffee.

"Oh right, that thing." He paused a moment to think, "we could just start with an affair and see how it goes." Andy laughed but suddenly noticed that Sharon wasn't anymore playing with him. "Hey Sharon, is everything okay?" They stopped to a red light and Andy turned to Sharon, catching her attention again by putting a hand on her shoulder. "I was only joking, I wouldn't put you in such position, you know right?" He was sincerely concerned.

Sharon finally spoke, "Yes I know. It's just… nothing to worry about. My head wandered to hurtful thoughts and ended up to sadden me, but it's over already," she smiled trying to reassure him it was everything alright. "Green light," she pointed to the traffic light a second before the cars, in line behind them, started to blow their horns to them.

As they were driving towards work, Andy got a text message "Do you mind reading for me?" he handled Sharon his phone.

"I won't read anything compromising, will I?"

"Sharon, please. I told all my girlfriends they don't have to write me within work hours or you may read them, so you are safe," he smiled.

Sharon took his phone from his hand and opened the text message, "You have been called on a crime scene, it's nearby." She gave him indication of the way and started to worry as they approached, "Andy I have no reasons to be here. How will we justify my presence?"

Before they could enter the house that was indicated as the murder scene, Andy parked and stopped the car. "Switch seats, you leave me here and go to work with my car. I will ride back with Provenza,"

"Oh no Andy, that's your car."

"Do you think I enjoy riding with that cranky old man? He listens to terrible music and complains about everything," he added with a smirk. "You are often in his thoughts lately."

"Me? What am I doing in his thoughts?" she replied surprised.

"Don't worry! It's all PG-rated stuff. As far as I know you are dressed. In his thoughts, at least…"

"Andy!" she replied nervously but also blushing.

"Hey, you came with a sexy dress as hot as you are and showed me legs. I am a man after all," he winked to her.

"Get out! And stop thinking of me naked." As Andy got off the car, Sharon slided from the passenger seat and turned the engine on again.

"Drive safe," he patted on the car. "And thanks for the coffee. See you later!"

"Please, contain the damages your partner may be doing as best as you can. I don't want to be involved into an investigation on any of you for a while," she greeted him with a head nod and left the scene. Andy waved to her, waiting to see her disappear behind a corner of the street and walked inside the house.

"Flynn, was about time you decided to join us!" Provenza walked towards him yelling, causing everyone around to turn.

"You are a _ray of sunshine_ , you know?" the team chuckled to Andy's words.

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

The morning passed rather quickly and before Sharon could realize it, it was lunch break already. While everyone else took advantage of the time to escape the walls of the office, Sharon preferred to stay into hers. It was the only time, she said, to be so calm to relax a bit and maybe also complete some paper work faster than when everyone kept interrupting her.

Most of her department detectives would go to the cafeteria, or even outside the building. Every day, at the same hour, Sharon Raydor would have left her office to go to the cafeteria, buy a salad and go back to her office to have her meal. In the beginning, it had bothered her not to have someone to hang out with, someone with whom she could have had a nice conversation for that short time of a break. With time it had become much better not to engange in any type of personal relationship at work.

A knock on the door distracted her from her thoughts, "Is it secure to come in?" Andy peeped from the door. "Anybody around?"

Sharon motioned to let him in, "Andy. What can I do for you?" She smiled trying to seem nice as he was interrupting her lunch break time.

Andy entered and closed the door behind him, he took a seat in front of her and put on the desk a small bag. "What's in the bag?" She asked.

He watched her with a puzzled look and pulled out of the bag a sandwich, "Lunch of course," he gave a bite to his sandwich and then pointed his look to her salad, indicating he had no intention to leave the office anytime soon before the break was over. "You didn't buy my anything, I had to do my own!"

At first Sharon didn't know how to react, he had just entered naturally and charming, like it was absolutely normal for him to be there on the break, and have his lunch with her. Like they were some sort of couple. He seemed indeed very comfortable at doing it and even now, as he was sitting and eating his sandwich, and looking at her, he was smiling and being pleased at his choice of being there. What was this man doing? What was his thinking behind this whole story and relationship? Sharon knew she had to understand and clear things before it was too late, but it needed a perfect plan to approach the argument, and for the moment she decided to play his game. "So, how was riding back with Lieutenant Provenza?" She asked teasing him.

Andy raised his head and looked at her annoyed, "A charm. After going for five minutes about how much he hates to wait for me on a crime scene, he moved on to annoying traffic in LA and just then he realized I was in the car with him and asked about mine," in the meantime Andy had finished his sandwich and was sipping from the mug in his left hand.

"And… what did you tell him?" Sharon froze to the argument, realizing she had his car and someone might have noticed that two days in a row she had parked that car in her space.

Andy stood up to throw away the bag of his lunch, "Sharon, my God. This place is sterile," he approached to her side of the desk to throw the things away in the trash can. "You don't even have photos of your children,"

"I know how they look like. Andy!" She called him back on the previous argument, "what did you tell him about your car!"

Andy moved back to sitting in front of her, "Other people like to see other people's children,"

"Andy!"

He smiled, she was losing it again and it was pleasing him. "I told him that my car was in the safe hands of a very well trained and respected police officer of the LAPD, who by the way…" he leaned on the desk to get closer to her and whispered, "I think looks very sexy in that skirt!" His allusive smile said more than any other word.

Sharon blushed instantly to his compliment, "Andy, stop!" She paused a moment, "this is not what friends do. You have to stop seeing me as a flirt," Sharon stood up and walked to the door. She gestured him to stand up and leave.

As Andy approached to leave, they heard voices coming from afar. The break was over and everyone was coming back to the office, "that is the point. In the past two months that I have seen you at work, you wore pants and today, when I was picking you up and driving you to work, you chose a skirt." He leaned on closer to her, "are you sure I am the one who is flirting?" When the door opened wide, any detective of the division had already sitten to their own desk and they would have noticed Andy coming out of the office, and they would have questioned his presence there.

"Chief Johnson is very, very thankful for your co-operation, Captain. I will make sure to let her know you think the same," he was walking backwards and while he tried to sound as more serious as possible, he winked at her when nobody was looking.

Sharon looked at the man leaving with a smirk on her face. She was fascinated by his ability of getting out of awkward situations and for not selling out their weird relationship status. She came back to reality when he disappeared from the corridor door and noticed that everyone was looking at her, "gentlemen I think we have more important duties than staring at the boss. Get back to your work!" She was authoritative and cold, not letting any emotion to reveal.

As she closed the door and went sitting back to her desk, she noticed a small piece of paper on it, right in front of the chair he had been sitting on, during the time he was there. She looked around to make sure nobody was watching through the glass walls of her office and grabbed it.

 _Meet me by the car at 6.30, this isn't a date – Anonymous_

She didn't want to react, but it was impossible. It made her smile, and then it made her think of his words. He had noticed her clothes during these months, and she had worn a skirt today. **Was she really flirting with him?**

* * *

 _This chapter is shorter, and some more in the future will be, but only because they serve me as passing chapters. Some will even be shorter than this._


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Sharon was walking in the garage. It was so silent around she could hear the echo of her heels, and it somehow made her nervous and she walked faster towards the car. As she arrived to her parking lot she found Andy sitting on the trunk.

She stopped to look at him and laughed, "You are ridicolous like this," she said.

"Hey you left me here waiting for fifteen minutes and I don't have my car keys. You are-" he climbed down, "very rude you know? And silly. You left me here alone and unprotected. Who knows what women could do to me if they walked by?"

"Oh here it is again, playing the sex symbol that all women want to-" she gestured with her hands, embarassed. She was hanging the keys in front of him, and a moment after she put them right into his hands, realizing she was teasing and flirting with him.

Sharon rushed to get into the car and Andy looked at her puzzled by this sudden change of her humor. He imagined something was still pending from that moment this morning, when he hinted about having an affair. "Hey Sharon," she had been very quiet, without talking and Andy wasn't even sure she was breathing at all. It felt like driving alone, "are you okay? You have been so quiet!" They had arrived at her house and he had parked and turned off the engine.

"Yes, I am sorry. I am just tired and can't wait to go upstairs and relax. Thank you for driving me back home,"

He noticed that she looked still somewhat absent in her speaking, "Okay, see you tomorrow at the same time then. Have a good night, Sharon!" She returned the smile which was strained, and without saying much she walked faster inside the building. She looked so much weird in his eyes that Andy had thought about talking to her in the morning.

As soon as Sharon arrived to her floor and rushed inside the house, she leaned her shoulders against the door and slowly slided down on her back. She took a few deep breaths before to even realize that the lights were on.

"Mom?"

She raised her head to notice her youngest child was standing in front of her, in a suit and only wearing his socks without any shoes. He must have been back hours before. "Richard," she quickly stood up and hugged her son. "I thought you were coming back tomorrow," she kissed his right temple as she moved away to go to take off her jacket.

"Yeah, but Ray got sick and we left the campus a day early." Richard had left for a few days to visit campus of a few colleges nearby. He was soon to be graduated and wanted to leave his home for good, for living the great life of a college student, but at same time his mother had pushed him to visit campus that weren't necessarily on the other side of the country, in an attempt to keep at least one of her children closer. He had agreed to visit a few in California, but he was still determined to expand his visits and research in other states of the country as well. "Are you okay, mom?"

Sharon put down her glass of water, "why is everyone so sure that I am not okay today?"

"Okay, sorry if I asked," he shrugged annoyed.

"I am sorry, sweetheart. It was a very difficult and intense day. I am fine, just tired. But I am happy to have my baby home." She got closer to him and hugged again.

"Mom, I'm not a kid anymore!" He grumbled trying to writhe from her arms.

"Oh, my sweet sweet boy." She gave him a noisy kiss on the forehead, "you will always be my baby. And so will your sister. Did you hear from her, by the way? I didn't have a chance to call her today. Has she landed safely?"

"Yes, yes. I heard from Mom number 2. She arrived, she got her things done and had even time to bother me about visiting a college in New York, so we could share a house," from his voice Sharon understood he didn't really like the idea of spending more time, than those of her visits in LA, with his sister.

Sharon burst into a laugh, "oh trusth me, sweetheart, I wouldn't want you two to share a house anymore. I prefer to pay two rents. You are not able to live together," she went on laughing as she walked to her room to change into something more comfortable. "Did you have dinner yet?" She only heard a _nope_ from her son, "good. Let me change into something else and I will prepare us something. So you can tell me about your visits,"

Richard appeared at her door, "Okay! And then you tell me about your blind date," Sharon opened her eyes wide. "What? You think Em would have missed telling me such an interesting thing?" he shrugged moving to his room, "you should know your daughter better, she's a gossip!" Richard shut the door, leaving Sharon hanging there with her pajamas in her hands and thinking about this past speech.

When had Emily told him about the date? Before or after to find out who she went out for dinner with? Did she also tell him about Andy spending the night over?

That sensation she had before, in front of her door, had come back to hit her hard. She felt the need to scream loud and let go of the tension it was putting onto her; she felt trapped in a situation she didn't even know how she got into, and worse, in that moment, she thought that if her son wouldn't have been there, she probably would have ended up calling Andy and asking him to stop by for dinner. They had only had one night together, but it was good, and funny, and Sharon had felt so comfortable around him at last, and now for just that one night talking with him, she wanted him to keep being part of her life. But at the same time, she feared herself around him, because she didn't seem able to control her emotions anymore. He had casted a spell on her, and she couldn't find any way out of it without hurting him or herself.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

 **December 23, 2008**

It had now been years since Sharon and Andy had had their first blind date and developped a friendship ever since. She had finally bought that car that she had needed to change and got a Volvo, that wasn't still _enough_ , according to Andy, but it had been good for her. She didn't need any fancy car, and it had made her laugh hard when he said the car was an "ensemble of crappy pieces", considering that his own car didn't look like a shining Mercedes or anything big.

It had happened a few times already that roles had switched, and Sharon was picking him up to go to work because his car wouldn't have started again after a stop for coffee.

After all these years, Provenza hadn't yet figured out who Flynn was hanging out with, but he was sure that he had been lying about the "spending time with a friend", because his partner looked a lot more invested than he would like to admit. And he was determined to find out where he disappeared for lunch breaks, too. He had tried to follow him a couple of times, but somehow Andy had always managed to disappear in the building.

"What are your plans for Christmas?"

It was another lunch break in her office, and slowly he had convinced her to give up on her sad salad and move onto something more tasty, like a pizza or chinese food. Andy was fighting with his noodles in the box, as they kept falling from his fork. "No plans really. My ex has once again managed to put my children against me for something,"

"I am sorry, Andy! That is not fair. You should be able to visit them."

"Yeah, I will possibly meet my daughter before the new year but nothing has been planned yet, what about you? Park City?"

Sharon nodded. December was possibly her favorite month of the whole year. It had been now a decade since her son had moved permanently to Palo Alto, and her daughter was dancing in New York, but they always booked a small chalet in Utah, where they spent a whole week together, skiing and having fun and being together. She looked forward to that week every year now.

"Ah! It must be amazing to spend time with them there, and the snow and everything," he looked sad and somewhat nostalgic when talking. Sharon could tell he missed his children a lot, and while he had made big steps and progress with his daughter, his son was still a hard wall to climb, he wouldn't surrender to the idea that his father had failed but was trying to make up for it.

"You will have your chance, Andy. I am sure of it!" Sharon stretched her arm to reach his hand and squeeze it with hers. It was sweet and comforting and it made Andy smile. Her belief that everything would turn out good made him more positive about it too.

"Thanks. So what time am I picking you up tomorrow?" He then asked.

"Andy, you don't have to drive me to the airport. I can park my car there or call a cab,"

"Nonsense. You are depriving me of our rides for 7 days, give me those few hours waiting with you at the airport so it will only be 6 days and countless hours," he smiled and so did Sharon in return.

During these years setting their friendship, they had agreed on a few things together and on a few lines not to cross. Sharon had asked him to stop flirting with her, because it wasn't going to be more than a friendship and it made her nervous and embarassed to be constantly complimented for her beauty, or worse her hotness. On his part, Andy had asked her to stop thanking him all the time he had bought food, or had driven her somewhere, because friends do things for each other without the need to be rewarded for it. And both had agreed that, as being friends, they were free to jump into any relationship with a third person and that they wouldn't judge the choice of the other, under any circumstance. This last had been more a condition Andy had put, because he knew that Sharon was not happy about him dating younger women and would have easily being the one judging it.

The rest of the lunch passed quietly and in silence, both thinking to their own situations.

Andy was still thinking he was going to spend another Christmas home alone, and at some point Provenza would have called to invite him to watch some re-run of an old football game, because his at-the-time fling had bored him already asking to go out for dinner or something like that.

Sharon had thought on multiple occasions about inviting him to Park City with her family, but always stepped back from doing so, because it would have been awkward and it made no sense to her to highly promote the "we are just friends" theory and then inviting him to a family reunion. Friends weren't family and the two things didn't have to mix up.

The day after he had been up and ready to drive her. It was 6 am when Andy arrived at Sharon's condo and he had been sipping from his coffee mug already half of it to stay awake.

"Sharon you are leaving for 7 days, you don't have to permanently move to Utah,"

"Oh it's mostly gifts in these bags," she replied pulling out of the entrance door two more bags from out of the door.

"And you have bought for all the kids in Utah?"

"Are you going to help me or joke about it the whole time?" She had that expression painted on her face, that look that preceded her Darth Raydor look and some ironical and bitchy comment.

"Helping!" He said immediately, "with that look I'm certainly helping. Had I known you robbed a toy store I would have come down here yesterday, though," he said while walking with two bags to his car. And there it was the Darth Raydor look on her face. "You will make many kids happy, Sharon." He joked as she approached with more bags.

"Not all of them. There is a kid here in LA who won't be getting any present this year, because he is mocking me instead of just helping with the bags," she replied

"Ohhhh but I want it, mommy!" He joked faking a fussy kid voice.

Sharon handed him the last of the bags and without saying a word, just with her finger he motioned him to get into the car and start the engine.

As they both entered the car, Andy handled her a mug of coffee, "I am not sure though you deserve it. You wouldn't give me my gift," he withdrew the hand with the mug from her.

Sharon gave him a naughty smile and leaned on him to give him a kiss on the cheek, "You won't buy my favors with a kiss, woman!"

"Fine! Keep your coffee, I don't want it," she folded her arms sliding back on her seat. Andy offered her the mug again, while sipping from his and watching her reaction. She grabbed it and held it in both her hands before taking a drink from it and hummed at the taste of fresh coffee on her tongue and lips.

"But please," Andy put down his mug and started to engine, "feel free to keep kissing me as much as you want. I won't complain about it!" He smiled at her and started to drive towards the airport.

It would have taken them less than 40 minutes to arrive there, and Andy had intended to spend them at its best, being the last time he would have been with her for a week.

"How long before the take-off?" Andy was standing in line with Sharon.

She had a look at her watch, "A little less than an hour. Andy you can leave, go home and get some rest."

"Naa, I can wait. Unless you have to meet with your boyfriend from another state, and don't want him to see that you have another boyfriend in LA," he shrugged.

"Oh yes. You got my game. Now leave before he sees you," she pushed him as a joke.

"How awkward would it be if he saw me kissing you?" He teased her and watched her look, "Hey you kissed me before, now I can't kiss you? You know this friendship is very off balance, if I can't do anything I want with you but you can with me."

"First, lower your tones. And second I kissed your cheek, like friends do!"

"And where do you think I wanted to kiss you, naughty woman!" He put a hand behind her back as the line was moving. Sharon just looked at him smiling and gestured with her finger on her cheek, where he could kiss her once only.

It was now only a few minutes before Sharon had to leave him for boarding, and somehow it seemed the both of them didn't want to part. In the crowd of people greeting each other, and all the mothers praying their children to "please call when you land" they were standing in front of each other in a hug.

"She's right," Andy was talking about one of those mothers next to them, "please call when you land. Like the exact minute your first foot is off the plane I want to receive a call!"

"Andy, don't you think it's a little bit exaggerated? I left other times before,"

"But I never drove you here," she had parted from him but he had hold on her once again, "so please call when you land," he closed his eyes smelling her perfume. Her hair was softly playing with his skin and gently falling on her shoulders.

"Here," Sharon took out of her pocket a small wrapped package. "Don't open before Christmas night," she tried to meet his eyes that were sticking to the package in his hands, "promise?"

"Yes, okay. But Sharon I didn't get you anything," he was sad he didn't think of giving her a surprise. This was the only one thing they hadn't talked about: gifts for the festivities. He didn't give gifts to Provenza, so it felt natural for him not to give to Sharon as well, even if they spent the most of their free times together now. But he should have thought about her _sense of occasion_ and that she would have gotten him something.

"Don't worry about it! You will take care of the plants in my house, that's more than a perfect gift for me," she smiled and as the speaker announced her flight was boarding she rushed him to let her leave. "Andy…" it was an automatic reaction from her, when he leaned in to kiss her cheek, Sharon turned and her lips met his. They hadn't kissed once ever since that night of the blind date and now, many years later from that moment, she was standing there and she had been the one initiating it again. What was happening to her? Why this man attracted to her so much like a magnet?

It lasted only a few seconds and it was just a peck on the lips. Sharon separated from him and left without saying a word or waving goodbye, she just turned on her heels and gave him her back. What had she done? All those years they had kept their friendship off the radars at work and absolutely platonic, she had just ruined it with a few seconds of desire.

Sharon took her seat, still thinking about their lips connecting and hid her face in her hands for a few minutes, before her cellphone beeped, bringing her back to reality. She picked it from her purse and looked at the display saying **New Message from Lt. Andy Flynn** , she was scared to check it but nonetheless she opened it.

She let go of a breath and smiled when she read it, _Miss you already_.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**  
 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

 **December 24, 2008 – Park City**

It was rainining in Park City when Sharon landed. She ran onto the bus that took her from the plane to inside the airport, where she knew Ricky had been waiting to pick her up. Waiting for the bus to start, she thought it was probably the best moment to tell Andy she had landed; at first she thought about sending him a message, to avoid any awkwardness of their previous intimate moment, but knowing Andy he would have called right away. After all, he had sent her a message when she was getting on the plane and he seemed to have, once again, took both of them out of the embarassement of the situation.

She let it rang for a couple of rings before to hang up. Maybe he was taking a nap, or maybe heading to work or maybe just ignoring her because that kiss had indeed been very awkward.

This thought started haunting her mind. The bus started to move and it was now a matter of minutes before she would have needed to suck it up inside and put that thought away, to enjoy a wonderful week with her children. Maybe this vacation came at the right time for Sharon to analyze a few things of these past years.

She found her son holding a sign on which was written _Captain Mom of LAPD_.

"What is this sign?" Sharon literally threw her arms around her son's shoulders smiling.

"I thought that, if anyone wanted to rob me, it's important that they know my mom is a captain of the LAPD," he smiled too and in response Sharon gave him a slap on his left shoulder.

It was at that moment she heard her phone ringing. She gestured her son to wait a minute and moved away from his hearing. "Andy, I thought you…"

Andy interrupted her immediately, "I'm sorry I didn't pick up," he was whispering. "We caught a sensitive case now and I couldn't answer."

They talked for a few minutes before Sharon could hear Provenza calling Andy back to work. It had been a weird conversation, he seemed cold and distant, much different from the man who wrote her "Miss you already" in the last message, but she imagined it could have been also because he was on site, at work, and their relationship didn't have to be noticed by others.

"Who was it?" Ricky appeared behind her.

"Oh just a friend. He drove me to the airport in LA and wanted to know if I landed," as soon as she said it she realized she had just said **he** and made it clear a man had driven her to the airport in LA, where she lived now alone, without her kids _supervision_ and free to date anyone she wanted to.

"Oh Gavin drove you? Didn't know he does things for anyone who's not himself!"

Sharon let go of a breath when her son said Gavin's name. He and Sharon had met in law school, before she left it to enter the academy and making the money to pay Jack's studies. Gavin had finished it and graduated and Sharon had become a Captain of the LAPD, but they had been friends for a very long time now, and everyone in her family knew that he wasn't interested in Sharon… or women at all!

"Believe it or not but Gavin can be a very good and caring friend," she said while grabbing her son by his arm and starting to walk with him. "You just have to take him on his very good days!" She then finished.

 **December 24, 2008 – Los Angeles**

The day had seemed never ending to Andy. All he had wanted to do was to finishing writing those papers, drive home and lay on the sofa waiting for midnight to open Sharon's present. He thought many times about opening it as soon as she gave it to him, but she made him promise and he kept his promises.

And he was also sure she had some sort of super powers for which she would have known he had opened it before, and she would have been pissed at him for it.

"Flynn," Provenza went close to his partner's desk. "We are all wrapping up and going home, are you coming?" He watched as Andy shrugged and went back reading what he had written in his report. "You know, I don't always give love advices," he started.

"Then please don't start now," Andy interrupted him immediately.

"But," Provenza couldn't mark his annoyance in being interrupted more than he did in that single word, "I think you should call her and see if you can meet her,"

Andy looked at him puzzled, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Yeah sure. You have been going around with the face of a sad puppy for the whole day, we had to draw back your attention on the case every minute and you have been looking at this stupid box the whole day," Provenza got irritated, "ah whatever! Don't show up at my place, let's say at 8.30, I won't open the door."

"See ya," Andy greeted his partner with a nod of the head and went back to finish his work.

As always he was going to be at his place after dinner, to watch a match with him and then leave a little before midnight, to an empty house and once again alone. If he hadn't been an alcoholic and taking his path to rehab seriously, that would have been the perfect moment to fall into the bottle and never come out.

Provenza was right, he had to be with her and not alone at home. He had wanted to be with her, but things were complicated and different than any common relationship; they were just friends and she would have never wanted him there.

Andy signed his report and left it on Chief Johnson's desk, he turned off the lamp on his desk and walked out of the murder room. Unless a serious case came in, he didn't have to step in there again for two days.

Walking to his parking lot he stopped a moment in front of an empty one with **CAPTAIN RAYDOR** written on it. He didn't hear the step approaching from behind.

"What a sense of freedom," the man went closer and smacked his shoulder. "A whole week without that witch. She is impossible to work with," he recognized the man in Sergeant Wallace, who worked in the FID under Sharon's command. He was irritated by hearing him calling her a _witch_. Andy found himself holding a fist with his right hand, and the temptation to punch the jerk was a strong one in him.

In the meantime, Provenza and the team had approached seeing Andy there. "I heard the husband left her multiple times, I bet he did, if she's the same at home as she is at work." The Sergeant laughed, "even her children ran away as soon as they could." It was the right time for Andy to release that anger against his face, and he would have had to face charges for it but he didn't care. Thankfully Provenza got close enough at the right moment, for once.

"Wallace. What the hell are you doing?"

"Good evening, Sir. I was chatting with Lieutenant Flynn about Captain Raydor. Finally she left for a week," the Sergeant replied, laughing again.

"And we should care because?" Provenza stated. The old man had a precise idea of the respect of his rank, and as they saw from afar that smack on Andy's shoulder, that was for his standards a violation of that respect. The Sergeant was of a lower rank than a Lieutenant and he also had no connection of friendship to any of them.

"I just thought…" the Sergeant stopped. "My apologies, Sir. Have a good night and merry Christmas, Sir." He left and Andy was still holding that fist, his hand had become red and he slowly released the clasp feeling sensitivity in his fingers again.

"Idiot," Provenza murmured. "On one thing he's right though, we can breath for a week without her presence stiring among us,"

"She is just doing her job," Andy had calmed down and his voice was quiet.

"So are we, and she is a bother with her rules," Provenza watched as his partner left without saying a word and screamed his name, "Flynn!" Then he said to the rest of the group, "That man is seriously an idiot!"

Andy walked to his car angry and mad at all the bad he had to hear about Sharon. If anyone had known they had been seeing each other, nobody would have ever said anything about her in his presence. But that was a fact, they weren't seeing each other, they weren't dating and she had been categoric about not revealing they were more than just collegues. She had even asked him to never defend her or compliment her in group, but to act just as he always had done before, with the jokes and the subtle talking. He had refused but she had assured him she knew it was just pretending in front of the others, and that she never would have believed a bad or mean comment of his.

Once he entered his car, he had already decided to skip the traditional evening with Provenza watching TV. This day needed to be over right now. Not only had it been a difficult and terrible case, but he also missed Sharon and had to listen to a series of bad comments on her that he couldn't avoid. He wanted it to be night already, or better the day after, or even better the new year, because that meant she would have been back in LA.

Truth to be told, Andy knew he was in love with Sharon. He also knew that she wasn't in love with him, and having her as a friend was everything he would have had, and so he had decided it was enough for him. Just to be around her. In that moment, his phone rang and a smile spread on his face when he saw the name on the display.

He picked up, "I thought I would have never heard from you again!" The voice on the other side seemed concerned and sincerely worried.

"I am sorry, the case was pretty intense. I didn't even have lunch," he replied and he was still smiling.

"They left you unfed? Oh my… that must have been terrible," she seemed more relaxed now.

"How are the kids?"

"They are good. We are all good. I am taking a moment from cooking and sitting down. It's been crazy here since I arrived," she laughed.

"I would pay good money to see you cooking," he paused a moment waiting for a reply but she was silent. "Hey I got your gift here with me, can I open it now, mommy?"

"No. We said midnight," her tone changed from funny to serious, but he could perceive that she was still smiling. They didn't spend much time on the phone, as Sharon had been called back to cooking several times by her children and siblings, but she had had enough time to tell him what they were cooking and asking him to let her know what he thought of her gift.

Before she ended the call, Sharon lowered her voice almost in a whisper, not to be heard from others he imagined. "Andy?" he hummed, "I miss you too!"

Andy smiled in the darkness of his car in the parking lot, "Well of course you do! I am such a handsome guy, who wouldn't miss me?" He had decided to break the embarassment and the silence with a joke, as he was used to doing so often with her. He could imagine her getting that look of annoyance that made him go crazy and then laugh. And she did laugh.

At the strike of midnight, Andy was sitting on his sofa, with her gift in his hands. It was small and he could hold it on his palm trying to imagine what it could possibly contain. He had stuck to the rules and waited for the midnight and now he could finally open it.

Inside the small box there was a piece of paper that had been folded in many ways to fit its container. He opened the paper and read:

 _Dear Andy,  
you surely don't need me to praise your ego, but I thought you may like this silly small gift. Maybe next time you won't lose your keys, anyway. Merry Christmas!  
Much Love, Sharon _

**Much Love** was all he focused on at first. Moving the paper he discovered what she was talking about in it. Holding her gift in his hands made him laugh. She had got him a key-ring with a ferrari crest and the writing _best driver ever_.

He was still laughing when he picked up his phone to message her: _My ego is very happy and thankful for your thought!_ He typed and sent waiting for an answer, which didn't come in too late.

 _I am pleased that your ego is happy. But don't take advantage of this now, Lieutenant._

All he had wanted was to call her and spend the rest of the night talking and joking, but she was with her family and he had to respect it and give her the time with them. He replied with an emoji of a smile and wished her a merry Christmas, but from there he didn't have any other answer.

It was only when he closed the chat tab, that he noticed the 12 calls from Provenza. The next day, he had to be prepared to be a really intense one, with his partner calling him an idiot and yelling at him for not showing up and not even picking up to his calls. But for this small time frame he had Sharon again, and he was happy and looking forward to hear from her again.

Andy went to bed with this thought. He went to bed with Sharon in his thoughts.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

 **December 31, 2008 – Park City**

The family was all gathered around a table, counting the seconds that missed to the new year. Sharon was standing by the kitchen's counter and sipping her hot tea; just a few steps from where she was standing, her children where jumping with happiness with their relatives. Her father was there, her two brothers and a her sister with her new boyfriend, she should have been the happiest woman ever but somehow she couldn't feel cheerful and enjoying the moment.

"Happy New Year," the group screamed as midnight arrived and Sharon smiled when her children went close to kiss and hug her. She returned the hugs but even they could see she wasn't the same Sharon as before, the one with a big sense of occasion who would have partied hard with them.

"Mom, your phone is buzzing." Emily was still hugging her mother when she heard her phone started to buzz with a message.

Sharon freed from her arms and reached for her phone on the counter, they saw her smiling finally.

 _Hey woman from the future, happy new year. Here in 2008 I am still stuck with Provenza, but in the new year I will spend more time with a gorgeous brunette. Don't be jealous, we are just friends! I will see you tomorrow. Finally._

Sharon kept smiling while she was answering Andy's message.

"Either mom got a new boyfriend, or she drank too much at dinner," Ricky broke the silence and everyone chuckled.

"Andy is only a friend, and he was wishing us all a happy new year, even if in LA it is still 11 pm." She had finished writing her message and put her phone down, "he is a considerate man, and helps me when I am in need with things like the car," she then finished pointing out that she had asked Ricky for some help with the car and he had made up a series of excuses to get himself out of it.

"Oh, Andy..." Emily smiled naughty looking at her brother. She had told him about that blind date years ago, with a man named Andrew-that their mother kept calling Andy- and that he worked with her in the LAPD.

"Yes, Andy. It's no secret that you fixed me up with him on a blind date many years ago and that we became good friends ever since," Sharon replied quietly. She had discussed it with her family already, to avoid any malicious thinking or something like that, and while her father hadn't agreed fully on it, with time he had understood that this guy made his daughter feel better rather than worse. At least he wasn't like Jack, who had abandoned her and only abused of the good heart and the love of his daughter.

"Define good friends, mom!" Ricky asked skeptical about her assertion.

"Yes, mom. Is it good friends like helping you with the groceries, or good friends like looking really hot in your underwear?"

"Emily Jane and Richard William Raydor, watch your mouth you two. I am still your mother and I am not going to discuss any further this thing." She had become all red in face and folded her arms like she used to do when she was getting angry, it was her defensive mode.

Ricky and Emily looked at each other and spoke at same time, "the second option!" Everyone in the room started to laugh out loud.

"I have never seen him naked, I am a married woman and I-" she was fuming. "I don't know why I waste my time talking with any of you. I will go to bed now, my alarm is pretty early tomorrow and you should consider doing the same, because I will not go again arguing with you both tomorrow morning when you will not get up on time," Sharon approached to her siblings to hug them and wish them good night. They weren't going to be up tomorrow to do it, and it wouldn't have been months or a whole year before they would meet again. Sometimes living in different states was very difficult for a family to keep in touch with everyone.

"And tomorrow Andy waits for you," Emily concluded.

Sharon gave her an annoyed look and decided not to object anymore, "Goodnight!" She said to both of her children and started to walk to the stairs.

"Sherry," her dad approached and put a hand behind her back. He started to guide her to climb the stairs together, "I don't know this man but if he makes you happy…" he let go of a sob before he cleared his voice to speak again. "I lost your mother, and there isn't a single day I don't miss her. I love each one of you and to spend time together, but she was my joy and my happiness. Don't be like your old man, chose to be happy." He gave her a kiss on the forehead, "you are so much beautiful when you are smiling," he put his hand on her cheek and saw Sharon smiling for him.

"I love you, daddy." Sharon hugged him tight, "have a goodnight!" They went opposite ways and Sharon spent that night thinking about what her father had told her. She deserved to be happy and he thought that Andy meant happiness for her.

 **January 1, 2009 – Los Angeles**

After saying goodbye with her children, everyone had taken their flight back home and Sharon was now putting her feet back in Los Angeles.

The excitement of meeting Andy was growing inside her, she could hear her heart beating faster every time she made a step closer to the exit. And finally there she was. She went with 5 cases and returned with one only, the other 4 had been seriously all about gifts, and she was now rolling her single one on her side while looking for him.

In the crowd of people welcoming the arrivals, she found him, standing there with his most charming smile and a bouquet of flowers in his hands. He was looking so wonderful to her eyes, and her own father's words came back to her mind in that moment.

Sharon started to walk faster, to cut the distance between them in a shorter time, and by the time she was in front of him and he had offered the flowers, she felt those words were extremely true.

"Welcome ba-" Andy didn't have the time to finish speaking before Sharon had already wrapped her arms around his shoulder and kissed him on the lips.

Andy didn't understand what was happening, but he was surely enjoying it. He slided his hand behind her back and stroked it while kissing her deeply. She tasted of coffee and Sharon, and he loved that. As he loved that their tongues were now dancing together, and she hadn't parted from him yet, and it didn't seem like she wanted to do it anytime soon.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Sharon had now been landed for 30 minutes already and met up with Andy for 20 and they were still kissing. Just like that night of many years ago, there was nothing around: no noises, no voices, nobody walking around them, there was only Sharon Raydor and Andy Flynn kissing intensely and passionately.

When they finally parted Sharon still had her eyes closed, smelling his scent and breathing with his own breath, "I missed you," she opened her eyes and smiled.

Andy took her luggage from her hands and put his arm around her shoulders, walking with her to the exit. "Never leave again, Sharon!" He kissed her temple, "are you hungry? I am starving."

Sharon nodded and they decided to stop by the cafeteria of the airport before they went to the car, "What do you want?"

"Just coffee, and maybe something sweet to bite," she replied.

"Sharon, we are in public," he leaned in to kiss her and whispered. "Oh! You weren't talking about me?"

His look was naughty but it amused Sharon and she kept on kissing him sweetly on his lips and smiling. She felt so free and so good to be with him at the present moment, that it wasn't a problem anymore to show affection in public. Nobody knew them there, anyway.

On their way to her condo, the drive was very silent. Sharon had fallen asleep all the way through it and he hadn't want to disturb her, she must have been exhausted. And he was right, she was. Thankfully she still had one more day off from work, but Andy didn't and he left her to take a nap, with the promise to be back for dinner at her place. He hadn't wanted to part from her but he had to go to work and she needed to lay down and rest, her body was all a sore from the skiing and the flight.

As soon as Andy arrived to work, the sweet voice of Provenza welcomed him into the murder room, "Flynn where the hell have you been? You can't pick up a phone and call?" He didn't even reply to him, just gave a nasty look and turned him his back to walk to his desk.

In the aftermath of that wonderful kiss, he didn't feel the need to be yelled at by his partner or even interact with anyone at all. He was going to do his job like everyday and counting with impatience the time that separated him from dinner time. Not that he hadn't liked kissing Sharon, but he needed to understand what it meant for their friendship, and most importantly what it meant to her.

The day passed incredibly slow for Andy and very fast for Sharon. It was finally dinner time and she had taken a long nap, a hot bath, cleaned around and then cooked for them. She felt beautifully.

When he knocked at her door she opened with a wide smile spreading on her face, "Hello, Lieutenant." She dragged him in from his left arm and kissed him deeply again.

"You look happy," he said when they parted and she moved to the kitchen.

"I am. I slept, I took a bath and now you are here, it has been a great day," she poured herself a glass of white wine. "How was yours?"

"Boring, for the most part," Sharon had handled him a can of his favorite juice and he was pouring it into his own glass, sitting at the table. "No big case, I did some paper work that was left behind and now here I am," he sipped. "Sharon, I wanted to-"

The ring of timer interrupted him, as Sharon had quickly stood up and moved to the oven. "Look, it's perfect!" In the oven a potato gateau was cooking, browning the top enough to be crunchy but not burnt. On the stove there was boiling water for some pasta with zucchini and shrimps.

"Where did you learn all this, Sharon?"

"I am not that terrible of a cook, Andy. I can still read recipes and make good meals,"

"Oh I don't doubt," Andy went closer and hugged her from behind. His hands slided to her sides and clasped on her stomach; he started to kiss her neck and she hummed everytime his lips touched her skin, sending shivers through her spine.

She turned and their lips met shortly, "Go look in the fridge," she sent him away with a tap of her hips.

Andy sighed moving away, "Sharon, Sharon, you are going to…" he froze when opening the doors of the fridge he saw what she was talking about. "Is that a chocolate cheesecake?"

"Maybe," from the opposite side Sharon was teasing him. "Maybe it's a double chocolate cheesecake with rasperries and white chocolate scales," she turned off the stove fire and moved to him. This time it was Sharon's hands to slide to his sides, "it certainly looks like that!" She kissed the back of his shoulder, "go and put on some music. Dinner will be served in a few minutes," she smiled at him as he turned to her and they smooched.

When music had been set on a very low tone, just to create the atmosphere, and dinner had been served on the table, they sat down and started eating and chatting.

"Sharon," he put down his fork and cleaned his lips with the napkin, "everything was delicious. My compliments to the chef!"

"Thank you, thank you!" She stood up, "take a seat on the sofa. Coffee and cake will be served in the living room," Sharon and her sense of occasion, everything had to be perfectly arranged and followed by the book. But Andy loved all of this. As much as he loved the cheesecake she had baked, so much that he took a second slice, and claimed he was going to have a third too soon.

They sat on the couch, Sharon had slided to his side and secured into his arms and from time to time she would raise her head to meet his lips with hers.

"Sharon, we need to talk," it had arrived the moment for Andy to try and understand where things were going.

"Oh," Sharon moved quickly away from his hug and sat further away. "It doesn't sound good!"

"No, gosh no! Please don't be alarmed, everything's fine!" He let go of a deep breath, "I was just…" he didn't know how to put it in a way that didn't sound offensive or that would have make her nervous or angry. "What are we, Sharon?"

Sharon looked at him. He was visibly nervous, and she couldn't understand why. It had been a nice evening, they had had a good dinner and casual small talk, and they had smooched here and there from time to time and enjoyed each other's company. She couldn't understand why he looked so nervous until he asked her that. "Oh, you mean…" now she was nervous, and when she was nervous she used to repeat things, and hesitate and sometimes she even folded her arms, trying to take time thinking to an answer. "I don't know, Andy!" She clasped her hands on her legs. "I am having a good time with you and I am happy when I'm around you, and…"

"The kissing," she nodded. "Don't get me wrong, I love kissing you. If I ever tell you to stop, please shoot me!" He raised both his hands, "but it's kinda awkward after we said to be just friends. Are we still just friends?" His look was puzzled, waiting for an answer from her.

"Yes," she quickly replied. "Maybe friends with, how do you say that, friends with benefits?"

Andy opened his eyes wide, "you mean that we are going to…" he remained allusive, being sure that she understood.

"Gosh, what do you think. No!"

"Sharon, that's what friends with benefits is," he stated.

"Okay, so we are friends with the benefit of kissing. And nothing else." She spelled the last three words to make him understand and then she stood up to pour herself another glass of wine. She needed it.

"So," Andy said standing up and moving towards her, "let me understand this. You and I are friends, correct?" she nodded while drinking from her glass. "And you and I kiss,"

"Occasionally!" She added

"Okay we kiss each other occasionally. Can we go out on a date?"

"No, as friends we just hang out. A restaurant, a movie. Things like that. Like we have done so far." She was so nervous that she finished the remaining of her glass of wine in one sip. "Andy, nothing has changed. We just… share some kisses from time to time."

He nodded and brought a finger to his mouth thinking, "Okay so if I wanted to, let's say, kiss you right now I could?"

"Yes!" she leaned in waiting for his kiss.

"I was just asking not saying I would," he smiled and she looked annoyed. "Oh who am I kidding, come here!" He pulled her to himself and kissed her passionately. Her hands slowly slided from his arms to the shoulders and clasped together behind his neck.

"Could I kiss you at work, if I wanted to?" He asked in a whisper when they parted.

"What do you think?"

"This is so unfair, Sharon. You make the rules and I have to obey. I just want to make sure that everyone knows that I can kiss you,"

"Andy," she again had that annoyed smile.

"Okay, okay. What about seeing other people?" He then asked.

"We can. We have no link that forbids the other to see anyone else." She didn't know how but they were swinging together in a hug, following the notes of the music that was still running in background.

"Uhm," Andy hummed. "So it's true!"

"What is true?"

"That you have a secret boyfriend in Park City, and date both of us. I have to admit Sharon I would have never expected this from you," he teased.

"Shut up," Sharon moved away from him and put the bottle of wine back in the fridge. "Everything is so weird for me, Andy." She had a quick look at him, to understand how he would take her words, and he did seem to be listening. "Don't get me wrong, after I separated from Jack I had another story. Making it short it didn't go well but I dated, but it was… serious. Nothing like what we have. And I have never gone here and there kissing a man, and acting like we are twenty-something and flirt with him. I didn't even ever exchanged so many flirty messages with a man before, and everything in my head is spinning so fast and telling me it's wrong but I cannot avoid because my heart is enjoying it instead and then I can't breath and I can't stop smiling when I am around you and I… I…"

Andy moved to her side and slowly closed her in a hug, "Sharon, you're getting into panic mode. Okay, listen! I am okay with anything you want to do. Don't stress out. We just see how it goes, okay?" He kissed her head, "we managed pretty good so far. We have been friends out of nowhere, and it was all good and great."

"Andy?" He hummed, "I need you to say something stupid and funny, please!" She was solidly holding to his arm with her hand, as if her life depended on that.

"Sharon?" She hummed in return, "that centrepiece is really ugly. All that pink and roses, what where you thinking?"

Sharon smiled slightly and put her head at rest on his chest, hearing his breathing and his heart pulsing with beatings. She didn't say more than a simple and whispered _thank you_.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

 **Spring 2009**

"Sharon, Sharon!" Andy was running after Sharon as she had left the murder room with her eyes wet. She was now crying fully. "Sharon, stop!" He had finally reached for her and managed to put an end to her crazy running.

"You heard them, Andy! You heard them laughing about me," she said sobbing. "They were making fun of me, of my husband. Your partner was dishing all my life to everyone's ear, my own personal life, Andy!" She raised her voice unintentionally.

"Okay, I know. That was wrong of him. I'll talk to him, but now Sharon please calm down," He wanted to hug her but she rejected him.

"Are you crazy? We are at work," she was still sobbing and she was also angry. Her make-up was wiping away with tears. "I'm a mess," she tried to calm down and stop crying. It had hurt her deeply to enter the murder room and find Provenza dishing it all on her personal life. For more than a decade, Sharon had been able to keep her marital situation hidden, revealing just the necessary about Jack's absence that was enough to shut up voices. But Provenza knew it all, of course he did, he always knew everything. And now all the department knew it all as well. They all knew that he had been cheating on her multiple times, and that he had come and gone far too many times, and that she had been too weak to just kick him out and had always given him a second and third and fourth and countless amount of chances to redeem himself, and he had always packed his stuff and left. He was standing at his desk and telling all he knew, like it was a bed time story for everyone.

But Sharon couldn't even be too much angry at him, because probably Jack himself had told him everything. A few drinks were enough for him to open like a book with anyone.

"Go freshen up," Andy put a hand on her left arm. "I'll go talk to him," he smiled. Sharon had probably hurt him with her previous reaction, when he tried to hug her, but nonetheless Andy was still standing by her side and trying to calm her down and be helpful.

As Sharon disappeared from the door heading to the restroom, Andy walked back to the murder room, finding Provenza waiting for him. "What? _Mrs. Perfection_ is offended?"

Andy stayed there looking at him with his worst and most angriest look, his hands in the trousers pockets. "You can truly be a jerk when you want," he walked past him towards his desk.

"Flynn, as your superior you can-"

"Report me! But that's what you are. And none of you," he gestured around, "is less of a jerk!"

"Flynn, you take it back now!" Provenza thundered, visibly angry with his partner's reaction and walked to him to face his lack of respect.

"I will not. You know it was wrong and you didn't care," he was now looking at the group. "How would you feel Tao if we were laughing about your son not making into college? Or about your latest girlfriend, Gabriel? What if we were here all here dishing about you and Daniels? Would you like that?" Now he turned to Provenza, "and you. Would you like me to tell them all about your wives? Your failed marriages and how and why they failed?" He was daring the old man, he knew that his marriages never had to be mentioned, but after all, he was treating him the same way he had treated Sharon before.

"What's going on with you, Flynn? What did she do to you?"

"Get off, Provenza!" Andy was standing tall in front of Provenza and he surpassed him in height, but he would have never been physical with the old man.

"Lieutenants!" They heard a voice from the Chief Johnson's office, and she was standing at the door. She put an end to the fight, "Lieutenant Flynn, in my office now!"

She shut the door behind her and everyone in the murder room leaned in to hear the conversation.

"I have to admit Lieutenant Flynn that I would have never expected this behavior from you," she started.

"Chief I-"

"Don't! I heard everything and you have no excuses," she was short and still scary, standing in front of him with her hands on her sides. "You will go out there, apologize and-"

"Apologize? Chief, I have done nothing wrong," Andy was standing as well and he was also shouting.

"You will apologize and go back to your work as usual," she was unyelding and Andy knew he couldn't say anything to make her change her mind. He moved towards the door without speaking. "Lieutenant," he grunted, "thank you for defending Captain Raydor. It's honorable." It was the first time that Chief Johnson had shown sympathy for Sharon, the first time she had been grateful for someone defending her honor, and Andy was pretty sure she was saying just as a woman, and not as Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson. She surely didn't like Sharon, but had a clear vision of what was right and wrong, and at that moment, what Provenza did was wrong.

"She didn't deserve it," Andy whispered.

"I know. You are right. But nonetheless, you did wrong then with your reaction. I need a team that can work together, you are the best detectives, but if you cannot work with one another, I cannot do my job." Brenda opened the door for Andy to go out and she walked out herself, waiting to hear his apologies.

Andy moved towards Provenza and without looking him in the eye he apologized, saying all his words very fast, not to be heard by everyone and to put an end to this immediately.

In that moment, Sharon walked into the murder room, "Oh Captain, right on time. Lieutenant Provenza, do you have anything to say?" Chief Johnson was smiling at the old man and he didn't need any more words to understand what she meant.

He didn't like what she wanted him to do, but he had to do it. "Sorry," he said and turned to sit to his desk. Chief Johnson cleared out her voice. He rolled his eyes. "I am sorry Captain for having offended you, but in my defense I was just completing the holes for the people in here, who had heard a few stories and asked me, as the oldest member of this department-"

Someone that Provenza couldn't identify let out of the words _of this building_ while pretending to have cough. He was sure it was Andy. "as the oldest member **here** , they asked me about it."

Sharon stood puzzled in front of him, trying to understand if he meant all he said or was joking with her again, "your apologies are terrible, they are not sincere and you didn't even really apologized, you just tried to sell me that you were doing everyone a favor by telling them facts that you shouldn't have." She wasn't wrong about most of it. Provenza didn't want to apologize, he was forced to by Chief Johnson, and he had told everyone about Sharon's private life by his own spontaneous will. "Nonetheless, I cannot be angry at you and let you have all the blame, not entirely, because I am pretty sure that it was my dear husband who told you all of this," Provenza nodded.

They didn't shake hands or anything similar, just these words spoken, in order for them to go back to work without any more interruptions or dramas. After all, Sharon wasn't going to excuse him, because he had crossed a line, her line, and it wasn't something that she could let it happen anymore.

Deep inside though, Sharon knew that the talking had started because they had noticed that Andy had changed with her. He was more considerate, and willing to work with her, and Provenza could swear that a few times he had heard his partner calling her Sharon and not Captain.

When they finally had a moment alone, Andy smiled at her and got closer. They were standing by the elevator, with a case for Major Crimes still pending on their head, that was involving an officer shooting, for which Sharon had been called to investigate. Working with Chief Johnson was never easy for Sharon, she wouldn't share all the informations, and always try to slow the FID investigation and they often ended up into Pope's office, so he could decide who was going to have the priority. And Sharon hardly won at that.

"So I was thinking," Andy got closer whispering to her left ear. "What do you think about a dinner and a movie at your place?"

Sharon took a deep breath, "Andy," she bit her bottom lip. "I don't think we should keep going on with this." The truth was that they never had to even given it a start, but it was another truth that Sharon had enjoyed it and didn't want to really stop.

Andy stepped back, "oh! So that's it. It was nice, we had fun and bye?"

"Andy," her tone was accomodating.

"No, no. I get it. It's over, okay!" Before she could reply back he was already walking to the stairs. She had hurt him, and the last thing she had wanted was to hurt him, but she ended up doing just that, and he wasn't really good at hiding it.

Her first instinct had told her to run after him and try to explain. But her reasoning stopped her from doing it, and suggested to her to let a few days pass and then they would have been able to have a decent and grown up conversation. Now he was hurt and angry, he would have said things he would have regretted later and she would have ended up destroyed, and this day had already put a lot of tension on her shoulders.

She was going to open a bottle of wine, put on some soft music and cry out her frustration until she would have fallen asleep. The headache that had started to spread that morning, had now taken over her whole head and was pulsing very hard in it.

A few hours later she had arrived home and poured herself some wine, she woke up with an insisting knock at her entrance door. She had a look at the clock on the wall and saw it was past 10 pm, who could it be at that late hour? She walked to the door, still stoned from falling asleep on the couch and probably drinking too much wine.

Sharon couldn't believe what she saw through the spyhole, "Andy, I told you that-"

He didn't wait to be invited and just entered nervously into the condo. "Andy it's really not a good moment, I-" Sharon had a look at the man standing in front of her. He was rigid, with a fist softly but nervously hitting his leg. It was all red, he was probably holding it too tight, "Andy are you alright?"

Finally he spoke, "I want a drink!"

Sharon opened her eyes wide, when was the last time he told her he had desired a drink? She couldn't remember. "Did you go to a meeting?" In the meantime, she was moving with him, guiding him to the sofa and quickly moved to the kitchen to grab him a bottle of water.

"Yes, I did. But I still feel the desire for a drink," now he was shaking his leg nervously as he sat down on the couch.

"Andy, why? You are doing so well in your program," she sat down next to him and tried to stop his leg from shaking, and held his hand in hers.

"Because of you," he said it sincerely, moving his look to meet her eyes. Oh those beautiful green eyes. He could go crazy looking at them for hours. They were so intense, and he had noticed a few shades of light brown in them.

Sharon sat back putting some distance between them, "I don't want to lose you, Sharon. I don't want to have to stop seeing you, and hug you, and kiss you. I am… good with you and I don't want to lose it,"

"Andy, I…" she didn't realize he felt all these things, that he needed these things. Because she needed them too, and giving up on them was a hard decision to take, "today you risked a suspension. You risked your friendship with Provenza for me. I cannot let that happen. It's not fair!"

"I know. I know I risked it all, but Sharon. I don't care!" He turned and took her hands in his. "I don't care if I get suspended, I can even get fired for what I care. I thought I needed my job to go on, I thought it was the only thing I had left in my life that I hadn't screwed up yet with the drinking, but that's because I hadn't yet met you." Andy kissed her hands, "I'm not asking you to be with me or anything. We can go back to what it was before. If you don't want me to kiss you, I will not kiss you. If you don't want me to hug you, I will not. Whatever you want to do Sharon, I will obey, I promise. But please don't go out of my life,"

Sharon had no idea of what to reply. All he said could have been possible, they could have just been friends without the kissing and hugging and everything else, but she didn't really want to lose those things, she had enjoyed them. But she also couldn't risk Andy to lose his job for his hot temper.

He was still waiting for an answer but she didn't have it, she needed to think about all possibilities and then she could answer. "It's getting late," Sharon had a look at her watch. "Why don't we get some sleep and we will see what to do with fresh minds tomorrow?" She offered him a smile, in the most sincere way she could make it look.

"Okay, can I stay on your couch for tonight?"

"Andy, with your back the couch is not ideal," she grabbed his hand and started to walk him to the bedroom.

"Oh true, you have a spare bedroom now,"

"Actually I do. But I was thinking you could sleep with me tonight," she smiled at him again, "I could really use a warm hug,"

Eventually Andy smiled too, "Okay, but Sharon please don't give me your son's pajamas. I am going to burn them, it's so itchy!" Sharon burst into a laugh, and Andy followed her. They both needed it. It had been a very stressful day, with a horrible case still to solve, and a lot of frustration on both of them.

Somehow, offering him to spend the night in the bed with her, was a way for Sharon to let him know she didn't want to give up on them. It was going to be messy and complicated, and perhaps they would have had this same conversation about a "break up" soon again, but for the moment it was good to have someone that, at the end of the day, was going to be there for the other, without judgement or regrets, just someone to lay down with and sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

 **Summer 2010**

Another year had passed, and Sharon and Andy were still defining their relationship. After that night of the past year, he had been spending more and more nights at the condo, in the bed with her. Just hugging and maybe some smooching, but for some reason or another, he always ended up sleeping there and sneaking out early morning to go back home and freshen up before he went to work.

"So," Andy grabbed his phone that had just beeped. "Provenza did a thing," he was eating his dinner as Sharon got up to put back the wine back in the fridge.

"Oh my… do I have to get dressed and go somewhere for a report?"

"No, no. Nothing work related. He, uhm…" he scratched the back of his head. "He set up a date with two flight attendants,"

"Well, maybe two girls at once may be too much for his old heart," she replied sarcastically.

"No," he let go of a breath, "one is for me!"

"Oh," Sharon sat back on her chair and moved around trying to find the right position.

They had discussed this long enough before, they weren't dating, they weren't a couple, just friends. And as friends they were free to date anyone they had wanted, without judgement from the other part.

It was a weird sensation that passed through Sharon's heart, she knew he had no obligations towards her and viceversa, but in the past year they had spent each night together, and it had felt a stability that she had wanted for so long.

"Remember that trip we had to Boston for that dirtbag. We met them there, I told you about,"

"Yeah I remember, the blondie who wouldn't stop eating you with her eyes," she had a bite of her chicken and her look wasn't pleased at all.

For a moment Andy was silent and looked at her. He couldn't understand if she was just joking or she was sincerely jealous "Yeah, she was pratically all over me when we got off the plane, Sharon are you-" he snort-laughed. "No, you are jealous! Oh my God, you are!"

"I am not jealous, Andy. Why should I be?" She stood up and moved behind the island to throw away the remainings of her dinner and wash the dishes before loading the dishwasher.

"Ohhh you are. You just walked out of a conversation about me dating another woman," he laughed out loud. "You are jealous, I can't believe it!" He had walked by with his plate and cluttery, handing them to her to clean.

"This is silly, and I'm done discussing it!"

These words made Andy laugh even louder, "Oh this is priceless. Sharon Raydor is jealous because another woman wants Andy Flynn. I can imagine this title on tomorrow's newspaper," he moved his hands in the air to mime a title on paper. "It would send Provenza out of his head," he kept on laughing, while Sharon had moved to the living room and wasn't amused at all.

"Andy it's getting late, shouldn't you drive back home?" She was standing in front of the couch with her arms folded.

"Don't I-" Andy got serious, "don't I sleep here tonight?"

Sharon answered with a nod of the head. She wasn't offended, but irritated yes, by him for mocking her and especially by herself for caring so much. She had tried so hard to stick to the "just friends" plan and as years passed, it was getting harder and harder.

"Okay, I'll stop mocking you. I'm sorry," Andy had approached and was holding her arms in his hands. "Can I stay?"

Sharon replied in a whisper, "on the couch."

"Oh c'mon Sharon," his voice was raising because she was walking away into her bedroom. "At least give me the guest room." All he heard was her shouting _couch_. But it had lasted just a few minutes, before she walked back and took his hand to walk with him to her bedroom.

That night they slept more closer than ever, Andy could tell Sharon was sort of proving that no matter with how many women he would have ended up with, she was still his favorite and the best choice. She had also kissed him more than once, and more passionately than before. At some point it seemed that the room was getting steamy and they were going to move to the next step of their intimacy, but he was then reminded that she was Sharon Raydor and rules were very important to her, and she would have stuck to them no matter what.

 **-O-O-O-O-O-**

Never before had Andy Flynn been happy to receive a call for a murder. The evening with the flight attendants had been crazy, with the red-head steadily flirting with Provenza, and the blondie trying more than once to kiss him. He had moved away from her every time, and every time she had tried again.

He couldn't say if he wasn't interested in this woman, or he was interested too much into another one, but it had been very hard to him to fake interest with his partner being there. Sharon and Andy had decided to keep behaving the same, and part of this was for Andy to pretend with Provenza he still had interest in dating any other woman. In some cases, Andy had also invented a couple of dates and fake names to tell him stories and making him happy, and in all of his stories Andy was always the greatest lover they had ever met.

"Can you stand now?" Andy was bending on the sofa behind his partner, who had a pillow pressed against his lower parts. What an embarassing moment. How he would have explained all of this to Sharon, he had no idea. Hopefully she would have focused on the very comic part of the story and laughed hard, and maybe he would have skipped the part in which the girl he was supposed to hook up with, literally didn't even give him the time to start the engine again, after dropping Provenza and his date at her house, and had insisted on having sex there in the car. Which Andy had then stopped, by saying he was still hungry and had brought her to a cafeteria near by, waiting for a miracle to happen. And that miracle came as a phone call from his partner, announcing to him there was a dead guy in the girl's bathroom and that he may have left a few prints here and there all over the crime scene.

"So, you are angry because that girl was trying to use you and wasn't really interested in you?" Sharon had been really amused by the whole story, and she was now sitting on the couch, with her legs to her breasts and trying to contain the laughters.

"Sharon, that's not the point. She used me. It's not good," Andy was sitting in front of her and he evidently had been pissed by a girl not being interested in him.

"Oh poor boy, she hurt your feelings," she leaned and caressed his face. "Come here, I'll show you some interest," she pulled him close and started to kiss him. She had to admit to herself, that the girl not being interested in him, was the best part of the story. Yes, Sharon Raydor was jealous, she would have never showed it to him, but she was jealous, and that occasion had served her good to give him some attention and receive his.

 **December 2010**

The murder room was shining, no one would have said it had been the place of discussions of the most horrible crimes. Everyone was going around cheerful and doing some small talk, everyone but a brunette sitting alone and looking sad on a chair. In her hands she had an elf with a funny hat she was playing with bored.

Sharon had planned Christmas in Park City like every year, but due to work holding her, she had changed her flight twice already and eventually snow had blocked the way and all flights had been cancelled. There went her Christmas.

She was very sad and her sense of occasion wasn't enough to let her enjoying the songs and the fun. The mother of her _friend Brenda_ had invited her to cook and helping around, but talking with the lady and hearing stories of little Brenda Leigh, hadn't helped at all to forget about her own children far away from her, and that she wouldn't have seen for another day.

"I smell something good," Andy entered in a moment Sharon was laughing at one of the stories about Chief Johnson. He went close to her, smelling what she was mixing in the pot and tried to put a finger to taste the cream, but Sharon gave him a hit with the wooden spoon. The scene didn't pass unnoticed by Mrs Johnson.

When Andy left the break room, Sharon was still smiling.

"You are radiant," Mrs Johnson called her back to reality.

"We are just friends," Sharon replied immediately covering any possible future question, she thought she could be asked.

"Oh, I see." She smirked, "Brenda Leigh said just the same about her and Fritz,"

"I understand where you are going with this, but really we are just friends." Sharon tried to change subject, "tell me how you do those vegetables, they look delicious," she had managed to do it but Mrs. Johnson surely wasn't going to give up on trying to convince her they weren't just friends.

When dinner was all set and ready, everyone gathered around the table to find a seat. Andy was sitting already, but as soon as Sharon approached, he stood up and moved the chair next to him for her. She sat down and her left hand disappeared under the table cloth; she had moved it onto his leg and he was now squeezing it with his. "I'm glad you could stop by for tonight," he whispered into her ear and she blushed while smiling. Quickly she had a look at the other side of the table, to find Mrs. Johnson smiling at her.

Dinner passed greatly and everyone enjoyed their time there, and for once nobody insulted or mocked Sharon, so Andy spent a rather pleasant time, without keeping his eyes off of her. He found her beautiful, even with pants, although he had shown a preference towards skirts, and he was happy she could stay that Christmas night with him.

Andy had been invited to his daughter's house, after the dinner, but he had to call and let them know that work was getting busy and couldn't make it. His daughter had been angry and yelling, because he was missing another opportunity to be with them, but eventually she had come to terms that he was working to put a bad guy behind bars, and everyone's plan had been screwed with this case. Having Sharon there was a great joy for him.

"I would like to dance with you," Andy whispered in her ear again.

"You know we can't," she whispered too and her hand slided down her side, hiding from everyone's view, and she clasped it with his. This undercover feeling made Sharon desire him even more.

Sharon stood up and motioned him to follow her. She walked out of the murder room and heading to the break room. Andy was just two steps behind, and as soon as he reached the door of the break room, she dragged him in shutting the door and kissing him passionately. "I missed you," she was kissing him greedily.

Andy wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, "Oh I missed you too, and your lips," he kissed her lips again. "And your jaw," and lowered to her jaw, and then her neck, and then he traced is way up again.

"Stop with your hands, you are undressing me," she giggled at his fingers passing on her skin.

"They're happy to feel your body, I can't control them,"

"Well do it, we are at work!" Sharon stepped back from his touching and tried to compose herself again. It happened at the most appropriate time, because Mrs. Johnson entered from the door just that moment.

"Oh I am sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you two," she was sweet and smiling.

"Oh we were just…" Sharon couldn't find a valid excuse for which the two of them were alone in a room with closed door. She motioned Andy to move out and go back to the murder room. "Willie Rae, you may understand that-"

"Oh Sharon, your secret is safe with me," she smiled again at Sharon, but she wanted to make sure and tried to keep explaining. "Sharon, don't worry! For all I know you two were discussing your smashed potatoes,"

She let go of a relieved breath, "Thank you, Willie Rae."

By the end of the evening, everyone was returning to their homes with their stomachs full and their hearts joyful for the break from the turmoil of their job.

"My flight leaves at 10 am," Sharon was looking outside the car window as Andy was driving her back home. She moved to look at him, because he wasn't answering. "Andy? You heard me?"

At the first red light he turned to her to speak. "Sharon, I have no problem in spending the night over at your place again, but I would like to discuss this thing," he motioned indicating the two of them. "I really love spending the time with you, and kissing and everything else, but-"

"Andy," she stopped him before he could go on. "I know what you are going to say, and I have been thinking about it as well. But I don't want to discuss this here, or now," she was playing with her pendant nervously. "Can we talk about this after Christmas, when I come back?" he nodded. "Are you still going to spend the night over?" She leaned in and kissed him.

He didn't reply to her immediately, but as soon as they arrived at her condo and he had parked, he turned off the engine and turned to kiss her. "Where else would I go?" He smiled brightly while he was still kissing her. "Sharon?" she hummed. "I'll wait for you. For how long it takes, I'll wait!" she smiled at him, and her eyes were getting teary with joy. Despite losing her flight and the chance to spend one day more with her children, she had in return something that was equally wonderful.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

 **Spring 2012**

Sharon had returned from Park City and they had talked and discussed their relationship status. Nothing had really changed in Andy's feelings but many things had changed for Sharon, from another talk heart-to-heart talk with her father, he made her notice that from the previous year she was less happy and more concerned and stressed. Maybe it was just work, or maybe she was getting herself too much involved into a relationship she may not want to be into. Her father didn't know, but Sharon knew. She wanted more with Andy, but she couldn't have it, and so she had "broken up" with him.

It had been over a year since their last discussion and the last time they had even kissed. Sharon had now been assigned to work with Major Crimes division more closely, with the pending case of finding the mole who was telling everything to Goldman before they even knew, she had been completely focused on work to ignore Andy's attentions. He wouldn't stop looking at her for the whole time she was in the same room with him, she could feel something in the air, but couldn't be sure it was him watching her.

She only noticed it that night they had been all ruled out for a murder case. "Captain, wow!" Chief Johnson welcomed her on the crime scene. She walked into the protective tent wearing a black cocktail dress, with an emerald green scarf covering her naked shoulders, and a simple pair of black decolleté.

"I was at a dinner," she cut off the compliments and put on her glasses while writing notes on the call logs. "What do we have here? Who was the first to arrive?"

"It's a double homocide, ma'am. I was the first to arrive at around 10.30pm," Julio appeared behind Buzz who was filming the scene.

"I arrived 10 minutes after and Lieutenant Provenza with me," Tao added.

Sharon was taking note of everything, "A date huh?" Andy went closer and questioned her.

"Yes, Lieutenant. When did you arrive?" She didn't raise her look from the papers.

"3 minutes and 20 seconds ago," he replied with a smirk. Andy tried to get closer to her but she moved away to reach Chief Johnson.

He couldn't avoid and notice that she was wearing the pendant he had bought her for her birthday: a golden heart-case in which she had put a photograph of her children as kids, to bring them always close to her heart. He knew how much she cared and loved her kids and that gift was a perfect choice for her, in fact she had loved it so much, that she had kissed him for a very long time that night.

"So you were on a date, nice guy?" In a moment of break, while everyone was getting a coffee, Andy had approached to Sharon and questioned her.

"Yes, a very interesting man."

The truth was that her date had been long over before she got a call. She had met him in line at a patisserie on a Sunday afternoon, and they had talked while waiting. He was an accountant and at first he seemed an interesting man to her, they had managed to spend a few afternoons in a cafeteria, just talking. She found him interesting. That was until he had asked her out on a date, and for the most part of the evening he had gone on and on talking about his job and desire of a family, that he had never been able to form because of his career. On her part, during the whole time of the evening, Sharon had been quiet, listening to him but not really paying attention to what he was saying, her head was wandering elsewhere and, on a few occasions, it was wandering **to** someone else. By the end of their night, he had accompained her to the door of her condo and when he had leaned in and tried to kiss her she had shut her door without even saying goodbye.

"I am surely going to meet him again, to make up for the interruption of tonight," she said with a smile and walked out with her coffee mug in her hands. She knew she wouldn't have never called him back, not even if he was the last man standing on Earth, but Andy didn't have to know that.

As she walked out, she had a look with the back of her eye at him. He was still standing, serious and visibly angry. He was jealous!

He walked faster to reach her, "What's his name?"

"Why do you care?"

"Well a man is dating a friend, I would like to know his identity at least. What's his name?"

They had arrived to the murder room already, and everyone now had their coffee and was filling in the information on the white board. "Daniel, his name is Daniel." They turned when she entered saying it.

"Pft, what a stupid name," Andy shrugged and moved to his desk.

"You mean that Andrew is better?" She said sarcastically.

"Andrew is impressive, it's classy. Daniel is the name of the boy around the corner of the street with a terrible taste in baseball, I may add."

"Are you serious about it? No, nevermind. It's none of your business, Lieutenant!" Everyone turned around, they couldn't believe she had just replied to him like that and in front of all the others. For the whole time they had worked together with the Captain, she had always been put, never losing it, and never showing any type of emotion. They could all see now that he was pushing her buttons, and she was reacting with irritation to this. It wasn't common for her, and it was out of character for her.

The whole evening and the day after had passed quickly and Sharon had been nervous and angry for most of it. She hadn't appreciated Andy's comments about her date and in front of everyone; they had managed to keep a good work relationship, despite their past, and she felt now it all had screwed up and she was again on the mouth and thoughts of everyone, and they didn't need to intrude into her private life.

A knock on the door wiped away her thoughts and brought her back to reality, "What do you want?" She opened the door and the anger came back. Andy was standing in front of her.

"May I come in?" He leaned forward to look inside the condo. "Or maybe you are busy? Is he here?"

"Lieutenant Flynn, what are you doing at my place and what do you want from me?"

"Sharon, please. Is he here?" He insisted.

Sharon gave up on questioning him and finally replied, "No. Why do you care to know?"

"Because if he was here that would be awkward," he moved two steps closer and took her face in his hands and kissed her. She had wanted to step back, to slap him, to shut the door in his face, but she couldn't. Instead she grasped his sides with her hands and dragged him inside.

They walked their way to her bedroom, kissing, and getting undressed on the way to it. Sharon knew it was wrong, she would probably regret it the morning after, but at the moment it was the only thing she wanted, and so it was for Andy.

All they needed and wanted, it was to be with one another.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

It was just a little late than 3 am when Sharon woke up abruptly. She was sweating and gasping for breath. She turned to her side, holding the blanket to her chest to cover herself, and saw him. He was laying there, sleeping peacefully. She hadn't imagined it all, she hadn't dreamt of it, it had really happened. At first Sharon thought that too much wine made her imagine their whole conversation on the door and all that followed, but it wasn't so, it had really happened, they had really made love for most of the night.

Andy woke up and noticed she was sitting on the bed and went closer, stroking her back with his hand, "Hey, is everything alright?" He hugged her, she was shaking and cold. "You are so cold, Sharon. Come here!" They slid down and he covered her fully with the blanket and wrapped his arms around her, stroking the side of her arm, "it was just a nightmare, nothing to worry about!" He kissed her forehead.

"You were shot to death and they wouldn't allow me to see you," she said it without turning around, and he was sorry she had to feel that way, but also flattered that his possible death would shake her to this point.

"Well, I won't say that's not a possibility, because of our job. But here I am, I admit that I thought I would die here with you, because you went wild-" he tried to make joke about it to release some of her tension and it had worked.

"Shut up!" She slapped him softly on his chest.

"I had that dream many times, to die and not being able to see the people I love anymore," he had rolled on his side and was face to face with her now. "I cannot imagine not seeing you anymore," he stretched his neck and softly kissed her nose.

"Wouldn't that be terrible?" She smiled at his kiss, "I cannot imagine it now either,"

"So," his eyes met hers, "I suppose now Daniel should be informed it's over!"

She snort-laughed, "you won't give up on this story, will you?"

"Hey, he dated you for 3 hours that could have been mine, I don't like the guy!" Andy got up and started to look around. Sharon immediately sat on the bed, still covered with the blanket. She looked somewhat shy to show her body to the man she had just been sleeping with.

"It was much less than 3 hours and what are you doing?" She was smiling and not shaking anymore. He had managed to calm her down. "Andy, what are you looking for?"

"I'm trying to remember where I undressed you, so I can give you back your clothes to get dressed,"

"I think it was somewhere between the entrance door and the bathroom door. But," Sharon sat on her knees and the blanket gently fell off her figure, "maybe I don't need to get dressed?"

Andy stood there with his mouth open and watching at her, "yeah, probably not. Your plan is much better than mine," he jumped on the bed and this made her laugh. She pulled him to her and kissed him deeply, on his lips, on his neck, whichever part of his body that was close to her lips. She desired him and it was clear he desired her as well.

A few hours later, the alarm was ringing and they had reluctanctly gotten up. Sharon had left Andy the shower first, knowing he would have been a lot faster and meanwhile checking her cellphone. She had found 10 calls from her children, and two of which from Emily, who was extremely worried because she hadn't replied back to her.

The evening, before Andy had shown to her house and completely changed the game rules completely, she had been spending a large amount of time on skype with both her kids, complaining about the situation at work and how tiring and exhausting it was becoming and that there was this one male collegue, who had frustrated her more than anyone else, because they had been more than just collegues and now he was making it hard for her to simply focus on her job. She had then said goodbye to them both, telling them she was going to take a hot bath, and then call them back for the goodnight wishes, but she had never called them back and they had gotten worried.

Sharon heard the shower turning off and understood Andy was going to be there any minute now, she had no time to call her kids back and reassure them she was okay. She decided to send a message to their what's app group chat and hoped they would read it immediately and stopped worrying.

 _Mom got into a slight hitch, but everything's fine. Will talk to you both tonight. Love you._

Andy's arms slid around her from behind and his lips met with her cheek, "Umm, you smell so good!"

"Sharon, I think I'm in love…" Sharon froze and her eyes opened wide; he was so calm saying it and she went into panic mode at his words. She slowly turned to face him and tried to speak but no words came out. "Your shower is fantastic. I could have spent the rest of my life there. My shower gets hot water for 15 minutes tops, then you wake up for sure with the frozen one hitting your body,"

"Oh, you love my shower!" She breathed out in relief.

"Yep! Amazing," Andy had dressed already and moved to the kitchen. He probably was hungry.

"I am glad you love it, now I'm going to take my shower and get dressed. You can serve yourself anything you want for breakfast, the coffee is fresh. I'll be as quick as possible," she replied giving him a quick kiss and turning to walk to the bathroom.

"Ohhh take your time, as far as they know I'm at my place now and it takes a while to drive to work from there," he raised his voice to be heard, as Sharon had walked away already.

Andy looked around himself, he knew that Sharon didn't really have more than a coffee for breakfast, but he refused to let her go without a proper meal. He started to wander around and opening the cupboards looking for what she had and deciding what to prepare. Andy knew women well enough to consider that _as quick as possible_ meant at least one hour, so that gave him plenty enough of time to prepare a good breakfast for himself and Sharon.

And he wasn't wrong, because an hour after Sharon had come out of the bathroom all dressed up and with her hair blow-dried, and ready to leave. But she found a surprise instead. "What is all this?" she said entering the room.

"We call it breakfast, it's a meal humans generally have between waking up and getting ready to leave for work," Andy put on the table the jug of juice and moved her chair for her to sit down, "you should try it. It's very healthy and delicious," he winked to her.

Sharon simply smiled and sat down, "I don't remember the last time I had french toast,"

"Well now you can remember it was today, have a bite. And drink some juice, it's freshly squeezed oranges." He poured her a glass of juice and then sat down himself. "Your phone has beeped the whole time, I think you also got a couple of calls while you were showering," he pointed to her phone which was charging on the counter behind the table.

"Oh," she thought it could have been Emily or Ricky, after reading her message.

"I admit I spied, one of these calls it was Daniel," he said.

Sharon stood up immediately and went to her phone to have a look. He lied. Daniel never called, nor sent a message, and now that she was thinking she hadn't given him her number, only her house one. She often did this, because she was barely home, so anyone calling and that she hadn't want to talk to, would have eventually given up calling when she wasn't answering anymore. "He never had my number, you lied!"

"Whaaat? You didn't give him your number, but you gave it to me?" He put on that vain look he used to have, "well now I feel special to you!"

She looked at him annoyed, "first. I didn't give you my number, we work in the same place and everyone has access to the cellphones of collegues. I didn't give it to you, you just had it in the department system and saved on your phone. Second, you are-"

"Incredibly charming and handsome? I know!"

"I was going to say rude for having looked into my phone," she replied sarcastically. "And now also rude for interrupting me,"

"And God forbids that you interrupt the Captain. It's sin!"

"Precisely," she brought the fork with a piece of toast to her mouth, and Andy found it so sexy. She was flirting, and that he was sure, and if only they hadn't already showered and got dressed, that would have been a perfect moment to just take her there on the table. She was irresistible.

"Okay. I didn't look into it. On my honor," he put his right hand on his heart and raised the left to swear. "But I want to be honest with you, Sharon. I don't want you to see that Daniel or any other man anymore. We are not just friends, and that is clear, and I don't like the idea of another man with you, or around you. I don't even like any other man talking to you, but I cannot stop people at work from doing it,"

Sharon smiled amused. He was cute and sweet, and the idea of him going around and punching anyone speaking to her, made her even more amused. Of course he would have never done that, she wouldn't have allowed it, and at work they needed to be professional and keep things exactly as they had been so far, but it was entertaining to imagine him fighting for her. "Well it would be funny to see you punching Pope for talking to me. Or Taylor. Or maybe Agent Howard,"

Andy rolled his eyes, "why does every woman find that man attractive? He has nothing special that we don't. And I dress much better,"

"But he works in the FBI, that's interesting," Sharon was teasing him. When Andy got angry he had those rough manners that often got him in troubles, but she secretly loved and felt more attracted to him when he lost his temper. She loved that he was this kind of man that could calm her down in her most anxious moments, and a wild animal when anger took possesion of his soul. He was never predictable and always passionate.

"Hey, I carry a gun too, and I wear suits, and I don't keep all those secrets. You know what FBI stands for? False Bullshit Information, that's it!" Sharon laughed out loud, "what?"

"You are so funny when you are jealous!" She kept on snort-laughing at him.

"I am not jealous, but it's true. They have all these protected information and stuff and hey, you named him!" He fumed.

"I know. But you are still so funny," Sharon leaned in to kiss him, "and cute. And there's no man I like more wearing a suit like you do!" Their kissing became more intense and went deeper than just picking their lips. She could have stayed like that forever and he would have as well, but duty called them back to reality as both their phones started to ring. Andy had moved to the entrance not to make her voice be heard from his partner.

"Okay we have to go, and it would be better if we go with two cars." Andy nodded in agreement. Last thing they wanted now was talking behind their backs, they needed to figure out how to make it work first and without any unwanted suggestion from others.

"Sharon, before we go I wanted you to know that I haven't been with any woman before. I mean I dated a few but it was just a few kisses and,"

"Andy, you don't have to! It's fine,"

"No, no. I want to clear it. I am serious when I say I want you all for myself. And I want you to know that I am only yours. So… just this!" He smiled and she could tell how committed he was to her.

Everything in her time with him had been nothing less than sweet, warm and intense. She could hardly remember now **why** she had wanted to separate from him. "Andy, I…" she paused trying to find the right words to say. "I have always been yours already. Daniel and I only talked a couple of times and our date ended long before I came to the crime scene. I just hadn't changed because when I came back home I called my daughter, and then you guys called me." Andy looked at her shocked. She had told him that he was a great man and everything and she had lied?

"I didn't want to lie to you, but I was mad at you and I wanted to hurt you somehow. I'm sorry, it's so childish. But the truth is that for all the time, when we were having dinner… well most of it I thought about you," she hid her face in her hands, ashamed to admit it.

Andy moved them away and lifted her chin up, "it's good you have been thinking of me you know? Because I have been thinking of you every day, since you came back from Park City last year." He wrapped his arms around her and then kissed her sweetly. "And an accountant… I'm pretty sure he was boring,"

"Ohhh that he was. He wouldn't stop talking about his job, horrible date!" Sharon picked up her bag and put her jacket on, "Really one to forget," she grabbed her keys and they walked out the door.

"Oh you'll get no objection from me on that, I forgot the guy already! I'm all focused on you." Andy waited for Sharon to lock the door, before he took the bag from her hands and clasped his fingers with hers. At least for a few minutes more, they could pretend to be a couple and be romantic. "So I will see you on the crime scene, _Captain_!" He whispered and kisseded her. They had just gotten out of the elevator and Andy's car was parked right in front of the building, while Sharon's was still in the garage.

"Yes, yes. It will be very hard not to smack your pretty buttocks at work," Sharon smiled naughtily.

"Hey, leave my buttocks alone. They're perfect," he pretended to be offended.

"Oh, I know they are!" Sharon held out her arms along his sides and pinched his buttocks. Andy did a small jump backwards.

" _Captain_ , don't make me file a report for inappropriate touching with you,"

"Umm, you may have to. But then you should show me what and how it happened." Flirty Sharon was driving Andy crazy.

"I may have to call in sick and recover from all of this, you are tormenting me, woman. Go get your care, before I go completely crazy and drag you back inside in my own arms," they kissed one last time before parting and going two opposite ways.

On his way out, Andy had thought back to the things that happened last night, until realization hit his thoughts: **he was dating Captain Sharon Raydor** , and at some point he would have to come out with it in his department. Just the thought of Provenza's reaction gave him goose bumps.

* * *

 _I just want to clarify that I have nothing against accountants, my own beta-reader was studying for it, but I needed someone with a job that would be defined boring, confronted to the work of an active police officer, and when it's about maths and numbers, that's my idea of boring. LOL No offense!_


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Andy had just stepped out of the elevator and he met with Sharon who was walking to the murder room. He smiled at her, like he hadn't seen her just a little while ago, and she smiled as well, and licked her lips like she used to do when she was nervous.

And she was. The man that was standing in front of her and smiling at her, he had been naked with her in the bed a few hours ago, and she had loved it but now they were at work and she had been reminded of this fact: they worked together, now closer than ever because of the mole story, and she outranked him too. What a mess. And still, while looking at him, she could remember his gentle touch, and the sensations she felt when his fingers touched her skin, and how sweet and caring and delicate he had been, and how he made her feel beautiful and desired.

"I missed you," he went closer to her, as they were walking to the murder room. He was whispering so close to her ear, that she could inhale the fresh smell of mint coming from his mouth.

"Andy we parted just less than 40 minutes ago,"

"It's been 39 minutes that I missed you,"

"And the other minute?"

"I wasted it watching your legs walking away from me," he smiled with a grin.

Andy opened the glass door for her and he was so close again, she had to fight with all her strength not to turn and kiss him there. It wasn't appropriate, and because of that she desired to do it even more. They entered to an empty room, evidently the team hadn't yet arrived back from the crime scene. Andy had been late so he had called Provenza to let him know he would have seen them at the station.

Sharon left her things at Andy's desk and they walked to the break room for a coffee, smiling at each other every step and without talking. Their eyes were saying everything that was needed to be said. They haven't said a word in the break room either, just looking at each other, flirting with naughty looks and casual touchings of hands when grabbing their own mug and sugar.

On their way back, as no one was around, Andy had held her hand and Sharon hadn't refused it. His hand was warm and her small hand fit his just perfectly. It was the best feeling in the world, but it was interrupted when walking back to the murder room, they heard the old man screaming, "Where the hell is Flynn?"

That wonderful moment had to come to an end, and when Andy with a sigh released her hand, he found hers still hanging to his, just with a finger clasped to his one. He smiled at her and then he winked to let go, they had arrived and everyone was now looking at them. "Goodmorning everyone," Sharon smiled at them.

"Captain, we missed you on the crime scene," Provenza appeared giving a dark look at his partner for leaving him alone on the crime scene, and pretended to be nice to Sharon. "You are like our _mascotte_ now!" He then finished being sarcastic and Sharon gave him a look.

"Lieutenant," Chief Johnson reprimanded him. "Captain here is your log information, I wrote them down myself," she handled her a block of papers.

"Thank you, Chief." Sharon looked at her puzzled, "why are you so willingly helping? It's weird,"

Chief Johnson put on a fake smile and got closer to her, "because Pope threatened me to break my division if I don't co-operate with you." She whispered to her.

Sharon was amused and could barely contain a laugh. It was the first time she won at the game and Pope sort of gave her the right.

In the meantime, Andy approached to the white board as Tao and Sanchez were writing down details they had gathered at the crime scene. He stopped by the picture of the corp. It looked familiar, "I think I've seen her before," he kept looking at the picture until realization hit him and he opened his eyes wide. He tried to call his partner without being noticed but failed, "Provenza!"

"What?" the old man stood up and went close to him. Andy whispered him a few things and the old man turned to move back to his desk.

"What is it, Lieutenant Flynn?" Chief Johnson asked.

"I-uhm…"

"He slept with the victim," Provenza concluded for him.

Everyone looked at him, but they weren't really surprised. Only Sharon seemed to be and he quickly made sure to rectify, "Like a decade ago, in San Francisco." he moved his hands in the air behind his shoulders.

"We don't care about the details, Lieutenant. But how this girl you know, happened to be dead in our jurisdiction?" Chief Johnson didn't really care about his private life and affairs, nobody really cared. They all knew he had quite a past and enjoyed women's company. Every one there knew, especially a brunette he was trying to convince that he had no links to that girl anymore.

Sharon pursed her lips and just nodded taking notes of everything. When she had written off everything that they had discovered, and everyone had been sent out to gather more information, she walked to Chief Johnson's office to discuss a few things.

On her way to the office, Andy blocked her, "hey! I hope you know that I hadn't seen that woman in years, or any other woman really. You know right?" he whispered to her.

"Andy it's not the right moment," Sharon cut in quickly and entered the Chief's office and closed the door.

She had a few seconds before she turned and took a seat; she had to quickly process the fact that a woman Andy had slept with, had been found dead and they were going to investigate on it. It wasn't really the woman and the fact she slept with him, Sharon knew about his past and she was actually still married, she really couldn't judge him. But her irritation came from the fact of being flashed in her face that he had a past. He surely hadn't planned it, but it was irritating.

She watched him looking inside the room with the look of an abandoned and sad puppy. This was irritating her as well.

For the rest of the day, while investigating this murder, Andy tried to reach out to Sharon and she had been distant and she had tried, instead, to avoid him. When he arrived at the elevator she had thought about possibly taking the stairs, but it was too late as he had approached already, "I know you're angry at me. I think I deserve it. But Sharon I wanted to-"

"Don't!" She shut him up, "you have nothing to apologize for. It's the past. And I'm still married, I cannot judge you."

"Okay," the elevator was now just two floors down. "So am I still invited for dinner?"

"Yes!"

"Will I ever get a smile from you today?" She couldn't resist and gave him a smile, although she tried to hide it pretty quickly behind her serious face.

"I am not mad at you, Andy. I am mad at myself for letting it affect me. It shouldn't!" Sharon wasn't visibly happy about it. Jealousy was a weakness to her, and she couldn't allow herself any weakness. It also made no sense in her head why. That man had been "hers" only by 24 hours, how could she be jealous of a dead woman who had him for herself many years ago? Then suddenly she remembered that time that Jack had bursted into her office, accusing her of having an affair with her boss and how jealous he was, and how wrong he was, and how embarassing the whole situation had been for her. They had had a discussion that night and he had left for two days, not saying where he was going, and not calling. Many years later that episode, she had found out he had spent those two days in a strip club and then the nights with one of the strippers.

She tried to wipe away that bad memory and get back to her situation right now: being jealous made no sense, but she couldn't avoid it, because she had feelings for that man. As much as she wanted to be open about it, she had never liked the idea of another woman around him and she had actually been cheerful when he had confessed, he hadn't had any woman since they started being friends with the benefit of kissing. But she really had no reason to be jealous, and she did need to stop her fear of losing Andy, or he would have left by exhaustion.

"Sharon?" They had arrived to the basements, and she was still inside the elevator thinking of all of that.

"Yes," she had a quick look around and saw nobody nearby. She quickly caught up with Andy and clasped her hand into his. He looked at her confused. She had said no physical contacts at work. He didn't know how to react, but he didn't want to free his hand from hers.

Andy looked at Sharon and she smiled at him, "I'll be at your place in an hour and half. There's a meeting nearby and I need to go," they had arrived to her car and they were now standing one in front of the other.

"Alright," Sharon stood on her toes and softly kissed him once. "Don't be too late, though."

"I wouldn't dream of it!" He replied and watched her smiling and walking to her car.

Driving his way to the meeting, Andy had some thinking. The body of a woman, he once had dated far away, had been found in Los Angeles and they had been called to investigate on it. All of this was happening in a sensitive time during which his girlfriend was attending to all their cases, and right as he thought that he paused thinking he had just said "girlfriend" into his head. The most awkward part of his day had been that not only hadn't she been angry at him, but she also had shared an intimate moment in the garage at work, where anyone at any moment could have possibly caught them.

That certainly had been a very stressful and awkward day for Andy Flynn.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Andy was on his way to Sharon's condo from the A.A. meeting. He grabbed his phone from the pocket and found 10 calls from Provenza; he couldn't be possibly bothering him yet again. He had turned the ringtone off, as he usually did when in a meeting, and everyone knew he had a meeting every Thursday at 7 pm.

He didn't want to call back. The last call was at 7.30 and his partner probably remembered he was attending a meeting; but he didn't have much time thinking on whether to call him or back, when his phone started ringing again. "It better be good Provenza,"

"Andy, I… you need to get back to work right now!" He didn't sound like the old guy he used to know, he seemed worried. Andy snorted nervously and put down his phone. Next he had to call Sharon and let her know he was going to be late to dinner.

The phone rang but she didn't pick up, he imagined she was taking a shower and for a moment his mind wandered to the thoughts of the water falling on her bare skin, and drops gently falling off her curves. Anger was growing, he wanted to be with her, not at work. The voice mail started and he left a message, _hey Sharon I have to get to work urgently but I'll be back as soon as possible. Wait for me._

On his way to the station, he tried to imagine why he had been called back. Maybe the medical examiner had found something that was of such a relevance it couldn't wait for the day after, or maybe Mike had found something in the victim's cellphone. Whatever it was Provenza had seemed worried and that was unusual, he never got worried unless he was directly involved into it.

"Like I said," Andy entered the murder room. "It better be good, what do we have?"

"Take a seat," Provenza moved a chair for him to sit down. In the room there was only him, Mike and Julio. There was no trace of the Chief or Gabriel, and the thing was starting to get awkward.

Provenza put a few photos in front of Andy. He was looking at four dead women, and they were all laying in the same position, with the same hair color and their eyes open wide. Their light eyes without life were looking at Andy. He recognized one of them, the last victim they had found.

"Do you recognize these women, Lieutenant?" Julio asked.

Andy nodded, he really couldn't remember them. "Should I?"

"They have one thing in common," Provenza told him and it was obvious they had all been put in the same position but it wasn't what the old man was referring to.

"We did some background checks and it seems that these four women have all been dating you," Tao showed him some paper with phone records and he could recognize his number highlighted.

"So we went back into your travelling plans and-"

"You checked on me?" Andy was angry. His collegues, his friends had been checking on his past without asking him before. He was fuming, "you had no rights to invade my privacy or whatsoever, you should have told me and ask me and I-"

"Andy! This is serious." Provenza thundered angrily. He wasn't happy to have to dig into his partner's past and he would have likely preferred to tell him beforehand, but it was needed to make the right checks before saying anything. The old man knew that their last victim wasn't familiar to him only because of being one of Andy's flings. There was something else in that body he saw.

"Where did you find them?"

"Well, Sir. This one is a murder of more than six years ago, it was robbery-homicide at the time who had it. This one as well, it's more recent but still their case," Julio pointed to the first two photos on the right.

"And God only knows what a terrific job Taylor job has done with them," Provenza rolled his eyes.

"This is our new victim and, I'm sorry, Sir…" Julio didn't seem to want to speak anymore.

"This one just arrived because the Lieutenant put an alert for similar cases," Tao pointed to Provenza. So they had a new victim, that had been killed like the one they had found that day, that was wearing the same clothes, that was linked to Andy.

He put down the photo and scratched his forhead with his hand. "Maybe I should report everything to the Chief and pull me out of this investigation," he said it in a low tone but everyone heard him.

"And why would you do such a stupid thing?" Provenza asked him.

"We will get to this point one way or another, and then I will have withheld informations, and I will be investigated," he stood up nervously. "It's the right thing to do,"

"That is the most stupid idea I have ever heard, and I know where it comes from." Provenza pointed to the empty desk where Sharon had been sitting for months now, with her laptop and her papers and her books of notes, the desk that was just next to Andy's. "You have been spending too much time, sitting so closely to **that** woman. She's moving out, tomorrow!"

Ah, Sharon! The thought of her hadn't crossed his mind until that moment. He would have had to tell her. By the nature of their current status, he needed to inform her that three more women had been murdered in these past times and that they all were linked to him. He had to tell her professionally, as she was part of the case, monitoring them and their actions, but most importantly he had to tell her because of their personal relationship.

"Go home, don't say anything to anyone and tomorrow we will see," yeah home. A place where his woman was waiting for him, to have a romantic dinner and probably make love to him. And instead now he had an uncomfortable truth to reveal, something that will surely have changed the mood for them and ruined the perfect plan of an evening together. But he couldn't avoid telling her, could he?

He had thought of a million ways to possibly tell her everything, during his drive back to her condo. None of them seemed good or right.

He let out of a breath before before he knocked at her door. Sharon opened with her hair wrapped into a towel, she must have just come out of the shower. "Hey you," she got closer and gave him a kiss welcoming him inside. "I was just listening to your message, everything good at work?"

There it was, the truth. He had to tell her. He wanted to tell her. He didn't know how to tell her. "Yeah," he closed the door behind himself, "Provenza made a mess with the final report of the day and we had to all go and sign again because he had written it again."

He had lied to her.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

"Andy? Is everything alright?"

It was the middle of the night. After having a casual dinner and watching some tv on the couch, they had gone to bed, both very tired. Andy, in particular, was shaken by the whole new stack of information that he had been put in the middle of, and by the fact that he lied to Sharon to her face, without thinking twice. He was very scared by himself.

The torment was too much, that he hadn't been able to catch any sleep at all and was now up and cooking.

"Oh hey, I'm sorry did I wake you?" He didn't turn to look her in the eyes and kept going on cooking nervously. Sharon had never seen Andy like this before, and it was scaring her to see how fast he moved and was working with the knives. She moved closer to him and put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Andy, stop now!" She took his hand and walked him to a chair at the table. Sharon moved behind his back and started to massage his shoulders. "You are so tense. Something is bothering you, I can tell!"

"Sharon, please stop!" Andy took her hands and moved her to sit on his lap. Sharon sat comfortably and put her arms around his neck, and she was leaning in to kiss him when he stopped her. "Not now," Andy let go of a deep breath. "There is something I have to tell you, and you won't like it."

The whole night went by talking, with Andy telling Sharon everything that they had discovered and the truth about him being called back to the office. He hadn't been happy to admit he had lied to her but he couldn't keep doing it. He needed to tell her the truth and to know that she understood and that she supported him. He had told her about the other two victims, prior to their current case, and about the new one that had been found during the evening. He had also told her about Tao and Provenza and Julio going into his past life and finding out that he had dated those women, and that he was their connecting point. And he had lastly described to her the position they had been found and their aspect.

"So that's it. And I don't really know what will come of it, because all the dots will be connected and…"

"It will result you being a possible suspect," Sharon finished the sentence for him. She had been in the police for far too long not to know how these things worked in these cases. Too much information was filled into her head now, and too many preoccupations were wandering around it. "Why wouldn't you tell me all of this before, Andy?" It was the first question she had for him.

Andy lowered his head, "Provenza told me not to say a word, that we would find a solution to all this. But there's no solution, Sharon. Tomorrow I walk straight to Chief Johnson's office and I confess everything,"

"Confess what?" Sharon stood up nervously, as she used to do when she needed to think. "You didn't murder them. You are only responsible for spending your free time with them, is that what you want to confess?"

Andy stood up as well, "Sharon I have to do something. Maybe if I tell the Chief about this we can get past the fact that I didn't kill them quicker,"

"Andy, let me get straight to the point. You are a police officer involved with the victims of four murders," she mimed the four with her hand, "this will open an investigation on you, other files piled up in your folder. You will be dismissed from investigating, questioned and they will have to get a warrant to search your house, your car, all of your belongings to prove that you didn't have any recent contact with these ladies." She took a breath, "in the meantime, my division will have to interrogate you, to verify that you are not compromised in your integrity and that you didn't violate any of the rules of the police department and your reputation will fall down," she had stopped shouting and was now talking at a much slower pace. "And everyone will talk behind your back, and they will always have doubts about you,"

"What are you suggesting then? That I don't say anything?" Andy asked.

"Of course not, you can't hide it. But just don't…" she paused and let go of a breath. "Just don't tell her, first thing in the morning. Let them put on the picture of the last victim and tell her you recognize her." Andy looked puzzled, he couldn't believe that Captain Sharon _I do everything by the rules_ Raydor was suggesting for him to hide that he knew since the beginning. "If you tell her you know already, it will make you look suspicious and she will doubt any other involvement."

"The Chief would nev-"

"Andy, trust me. It's the most logical things to think. Why, if you knew it from the previous evening, you didn't say anything before? Why she wasn't called and involved with it too? She will ask herself those questions and Andy," Sharon had gotten closer to him and put a hand on his arm. "There is an investigation I'm conducting to find a mole, don't you think that if she knows you knew, you won't be her first possible candidate?"

Andy was still dubious. He knew Chief Johnson and he knew that she was hardly buying the mole story. She couldn't believe that someone from her division was selling information to Peter Goldman, but Sharon had touched a sensitive spot. It wasn't just about thinking that someone in her division was reporting all her moves, but now this whole "hiding things" situation could seriously break up the balance among her detectives.

"Okay," Andy breathed loudly. "I'll wait. But I don't like it," he moved away from her and back to the kitchen. He was still nervous and needed to let it out of him by cooking. "Go back to sleep, Sharon. You've got still a few hourse before the alarm."

Sharon couldn't get back to sleep, she knew she wouldn't have, but she also knew that Andy now needed some time alone, without her preoccupations and her looks of sorrow floating in the air. She had reluctantly left him, but at last he was right and the tiredness made her fall asleep for an hour or so.

When she had woken up with the ring of the alarm, Andy was gone. She found a note on the table. Sharon opened it slowly, maybe too scared to read its content, or maybe because she knew what he had written in it.

 _Sharon,  
I know what it needs to be done. You will not approve, you will not understand. But on my honor I have to do it. I'll face the consequences, I'm tough for it. Please forgive me for leaving you like this, we both need some space. But still… I miss you already. – Andy_

Sharon's eyes got wet. Yes, she knew what he was up to and she knew he was a stubborn man and he had to do it his own way. She only wished he would have let her say goodbye, before he walked out of her house and her life.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Sharon tried to be as quick as possible dressing up and leaving for work, she hoped to meet with Andy before he could say anything to Chief Johnson. Unfortunately for her, that hadn't been enough.

Andy had thought about it all, he knew that she would have tried to stop him, and so he had left long before and spoke to Chief Johnson in the early morning, dragging her out of the bed before her alarm was set to ring.

When she arrived at work that morning, Sharon saw Andy walking to the interview room, with two police officers by his sides.

"Lieutenant, what's going on?" She approached to Provenza pretending to be clueless on everything.

"He is an idiot," Provenza scratched his forehead. "And now a suspect in the murder of five women."

Five women? He had only told her about four. When did they become five? Sharon walked to the electronics with everyone else, and her heart started beating faster with anxiety. She still couldn't believe in just one night the number had raised. "Why is Captain Seever interviewing him?" She asked watching him through the monitors.

"Because Chief Pope doesn't want anyone of us to be involved since he works in this division. He allowed me to view this interview but we cannot talk to Lieutenant Flynn or ask him question," they all looked tense and nervous, they didn't like when one of them was being interviewed.

Sharon swallowed that heavy thing in her throat and tried to focus on the interview. She knew Captain Seever very well, and his interrogation methods weren't the most quiet ones, but if anyone could stand up to his game that was Andy.

"Did you know these girls?" The Captain showed him pictures of the five women.

"Seriously? I told you I knew them and you ask me if I know them?" Andy seemed calm and daring the Captain. Sharon couldn't avoid being stressed and tense.

"Did you know these girls?" The Captain repeated with a higher tone.

"Yes, I knew these women," Andy replied annoyed.

"Where did you meet them?"

"At a benefit concert for a pedriatic hospital," he said being sarcastic. "What the hell do I remember? I haven't seen them in years, I don't even recall their names."

The Captain was visibly getting angry, and by Sharon's experience, it was the moment he became verbally abusive towards the other. But maybe, she thought for a moment, if he did they could have call him off for inappropriate conduct and someone else could be the one interviewing Andy. "Lieutenant Flynn, you are being investigated for the murder of five women, you better co-operate with us or I put you behind the bars and throw away the keys," he composed again. "Where were you last night?"

"Home, sleeping."

"Alone?"

"I sent out invitations for a sleeping party, but no one showed up," he replied sarcastically again.

"Answer the question," the other detective in the room completely lost it. He hit the table with his hand and stood up in front of Andy shouting.

"You are spitting on my face, Lewis." Andy was still calm, and composed, and he still used sarcasm. He knew all their interrogation techniques, he had been in the LAPD for a very long time, to know everyone in there and how to provoke them.

He turned to the Captain again, "I was home. Alone. Sleeping." That question froze Sharon. She knew where he had been last night, and all those before.

"I will make it easier for all of us." Andy let go of a breath, "I haven't seen any of these women for a while, I don't remember their names, I don't know what they did for living, I don't really care about it. I was home alone last night, and the one before, and the one before, and back to the past six months." He raised his voice a little, "the only reason why I said everything to my Chief in Command, is because I'm a goddamn great cop, a lot better than you two anyway, and I know the rules and the policies and I follow them but I have **nothing to do with these murders** , and because now you will want to keep me here longer to question me and try to frame me into having committed them, I want a lawyer!"

The interview was over, but not to the Captain who still wanted to make him confess. He kept going on talking to him and asking him questions, even if Andy had invoked his right to a lawyer. That was the right moment for Sharon to get in action.

She walked out of the electronics and walked fast to Interview Room 1. Without knocking she opened the door, "your interview is over Captain Seever, you may please leave and wait for Lieutenant Flynn's lawyer to arrive," she moved away from the entrance to let him out.

"I'm not done, Captain Raydor." He turned to Andy again and questioned him about one of the women.

"Captain!" Sharon shouted. "I am that close," she gestured with her hands, "to start and investigation on your discipline, or lack of it. You will walk out now,"

Captain Seever stood up and walked very closely to Sharon, "is that a threat, Captain?"

"More like a suggestion, Captain." Sharon didn't fear his look, or his attempts of being superior by height or strength, but with the back of her eye she saw Andy getting very uncomfortable of that barely countable distance between them. She was reminded of his jealousy and the temper that came out of it.

As soon as Captain Seever and his detective walked out, Sharon turned to Andy. They looked at each other for quite a long time, without saying a word, just looking into each other's eyes. He had sadness in his look, and it would it seem like he was apologizing to her, for leaving her there and doing different to what she had suggested the night before. She had fire of anger into her eyes, because he had left her there without saying goodbye and had decided that ruining his career was the only safe choice.

She left him in the room with a police officer to watch on him, and closing the door behind her she felt the warmth of tears scratching her cheeks.

Sharon walked fast to the rest room, before anyone came out from the electronics and risked seeing her crying. When she came back to the murder room, freshened up and composed, she walked into a very angry Provenza, who was screaming and professing the innocence of his partner and the rest of the team analyzing what they had to their hands.

"They are all brunette with light eyes," Julio stated.

"So? He has a type, is that a crime?" Provenza found any answer to defend him.

That moment Sharon realized something. In his goodbye note Andy said _we both need some space_ , and she couldn't understand why. They had discussed this before and it had been clear to both that none of them was able or intented to be separated from the other. But now there was "a type", a woman with brown hair and light eyes. Just like Sharon had brown hair and green eyes. He wasn't trying to break up with her, he was trying to protect her from being the next one.

"Chief Johnson, Chief Pope. May I speak with both of you in private for a moment?" Sharon asked them to follow her into Chief Johnson's office and entering it she closed the curtains.

When both of them had entered the room and closed the door she motioned to ask them to sit down, but she remained standing in front of them. She closed her eyes and inhaled and exhaled a couple of times before she spoke. "Andy cannot be the one who has murdered these women,"

"How can you say that?" Chief Johnson was curious about her statement, as much as she was for her calling him by first name rather than his rank.

Sharon could have said another lie, she could have claimed anything, but there had been enough lying around, the truth needed to be told, in order to free Andy from any accusation.

"Because he was with me last night," if he was going to fall, she was falling right there with him.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Another hour had passed, before Andy had been finally released and his belongings given back. "Maybe next time will be better, buddy!" He said sarcasticly and patted his hand on Detective Lewis shoulder.

Andy walked back into the murder room while strapping his watch to his wrist and putting back his sobriety ring where it belonged to.

"We never doubted your innocence, Flynn." Provenza welcomed him to the room.

"I am sure of it," he entered to the room that was full of his co-worker and they all seemed happy to have him back. "What did you do? Threaten someone to let me go?" He asked his partner.

"Actually, Lieutenant Flynn, there are a few things we need to discuss in private," Chief Johnson said, "but just to be clear that you will not be able to participate in the investigation," Andy nodded in agreement. It was clear that he hadn't been fully discharged by all the accusations, and there would have been an investigation on his involvement with the victims, but he was happy not to be in that interview room with Captain Seever and Detective Lewis anymore. "Now please follow me."

"Chief, I want to say thank you for anything you did to get me out of there," he said without waiting for her to be even be sitting on her chair.

"I didn't do anything, Lieutenant. It wasn't me who gave you an alibi for the nights of these past months," she seemed irritated.

Andy tried to think about her words and understand what she meant. If she didn't do anything, and Provenza didn't do anything who could have? Then, all of a sudden, he put together her words like crosswords and understood what they meant. "Where is she?" He asked.

"With Chief Pope, but…" she stopped him from standing and leaving. "You can't go now, Lieutenant. Sit down!" All he had wanted to do was to run to Chief Pope's office and stop whatever was happening before she could compromise her position and career in the LAPD, revealing she had been dating and sleeping with a lower ranked officer she was currently working with. There was nothing in the policies to forbid it, but he knew Sharon had wanted to keep it low key and she hadn't to talk about it now to keep him out of jail.

Their chat had been long and exhausting, and it had ended with Chief Johnson sending Andy home because he could not be part of this case, and quite frankly she wasn't even sure that **they** were going to be investigating on it.

Andy left, but he took a different turn before leaving the building.

"What did you do, Sharon?" Andy waited for her in her office. The lights were still turned off and she startled when he spoke.

"You shouldn't be here," she entered turning on the lights and moving behind her desk. She opened a drawer and grabbed her bag.

"Sharon!" Andy's voice was loud, everyone could have heard him, and he was angry.

Thankfully nobody was around, but Sharon closed the door nonetheless. "I told the truth. It couldn't have been you who killed those women. I reported our relationship status to yours and my superiors. I am your alibi," she wouldn't look him in the eye and pretended instead to be busy around grabbing her stuff to leave.

Sharon hadn't been ashamed of admitting their relationship, she hadn't even thought twice whether to say it or not, she did right away when the thought showed up in her mind. But she had been ashamed of admitting she did with him, it made it sound bigger than **she thought** it was, it made it sound real and official and she didn't know how he felt about it. "What was I supposed to do? Sitting there and wait for you to be convicted for something you didn't do?"

"You could have asked me, Sharon. You could have talked to me before saying anything,"

"I couldn't talk to you," Sharon paused and eventually she looked him in the eyes. "You left me." Her voice tone was barely audible, soft and deep as usual but very sad. "You broke up with me, and then this…"

Andy stayed there. He had stood up in the meantime, trying to get an eye contact with her. He had tried to get somewhat closer to her but she had refused him every time. "I-" he didn't believe her words. "I didn't break up with you. I could…" now he was standing next to her and he lifted up her chin with his finger. Gosh her eyes, even with tears they were magnificent and perfect. "Sharon I could never leave you. Humans can't live without breathing, and you are my breath." He tried to hug her but she rejected him.

"So what does it mean that _we both need some space_?" Sharon grabbed the paper with his message and put it in front of her eyes. She had brought it with her, and it was on top of her papers, right there for her to read and re-read all over again as many times as possible.

"Sharon that is…"

"What? Complicated? Unexplicable? It was fun but bye bye? What is it, Andy?" She interrupted him and her anger could be perceived in each word she spoke loudly.

"There is a damn son of a bitch who is killing one by one women I have dated,"

"I can defend myself, Andy." She had calmed down.

"I know! I know you can, but I don't want you to have to. I want to protect you, Sharon." He tried again to hug her and failed again, but she didn't reject his hands clasping around her arms.

"Because I am your type?" She dared him with her eyes. "Brunette with light eyes, I have seen them."

"I have a type, yes! But it's not the reason why I want to protect you," his hands slided down along her arms and found her hands to squeeze. "Haven't you got that note from my heart, yet? The one in which I wrote that **I love you**?"

He had said it. It was now just a matter of time before Sharon knew he would have said it, and no matter how many times she had tried to prepare herself to hear it, she was caught by surprise. It had a bittersweet flavor this time. It was sweet as those words can always be, and it was sad that was coming as an explanation of why he had to be separated from her. And it was also sad, because she was still married to another man, and despite knowing she had no feelings for her husband, and instead she had for Andy, she couldn't say it. She wasn't ready to divorce, maybe she never would been.

"I know you do," she clasped her hands with his. "And that is why I don't understand this. You say you love me but break up with me?"

"Nope!" Andy leaned and kissed her softly on the lips. "I wanted to. I told myself that calling it a break would have helped me to slowly accept not to waking up next to you," he kissed her again. She wasn't rejecting him. "But then I arrived here and everything else happened. And you stopped that idiot from interrogating me. And I…" he let go of a breath. "I wanted to hate you for telling the Chiefs about us, but I cannot. And if possible I love you even more than I already did because of it."

"Andy, I…"

"I know. Don't say it. You have to feel ready to say it, and I won't force you. I know it already, anyway!" This time Sharon let him hug her. "You told them…" Sharon could hear the beating of his heart. "This says it more than the words themselves!"

She smiled, and even if he wasn't watching at her, he knew she did. "I love to see you smiling," he said.

"They won't disclose it," Sharon raised her head to meet his eyes. "The status of our relationship, they won't tell the others," she smiled at him again.

"Good," he reassured her he was okay with it. "But at what price?" Andy knew that if they weren't going to make it public it must have a deal with it.

"You will not participate to this investigation," she said.

"That I know already,"

"And neither am I." She was upset by this deal, he could tell. "Chief Pope already assigned another member of my division to look upon your division, and…"

"And?" Andy was facing her, his hands against around her arms, and looking her right in her eyes.

"And I will not be allowed to investigate any case that involves you. They will all be assigned to Sergeant Brooks,"

"Brooks? Oh not her, she is…"

"Not pretty?"

"She is a man, Sharon. That woman really scares the hell out of me. She's…. huge as a wardrobe and rumors have it that she was Mr. Brooks before," Sharon released from his hug.

"That is offensive, Andy. And the kind of thing that gets you into trouble and she will have to investigate on you," Sharon grabbed her stuff to leave and turned off the lights in her office.

"It's undeniable that she is scary," Andy followed her. "But if nothing else knowing it will be her might keep me away from troubles. The idea to face her, gosh!" He opened his eyes wide and his affirmation made Sharon laugh. It was the first time she was finally lauhing and taking it easier.

She waited for him to close her door and step up with her. Sharon gave him her bag, knowing he would have taken it right away if she didn't, and clasped her arm under his. "What would you say about a movie tonight?"

"Sure, why not? I'm a free man. Your place or my place?" He replied walking slower to keep up with her steps.

"I was thinking we could go to the cinema," she replied.

Her answer left him speechless. They had gone to the movies together before, but after revealing the status of their relationship he had imagined it would only have developped behind closed doors, and especially not in public places where everyone might have caught them.

Andy stopped and grabbing her hand, he took a look at her from behind, "What are you looking at?" She asked.

"Did they switch you with another Sharon? Because you just said to go out in public the two of us, and I'm not sure if it's a test or what," he got a slap in response. "And at the movies I could, let's say, hold your hand?" Sharon nodded. "And also kiss you from time to time?"

"Yes, you can."

"Okay, you have been switched. Now I know for sure," he mocked. "That or you are drunk,"

"Only with your love," she stretched on her toes to give him a quick peck on the lips before heading out of the door. It would have been only a matter of a few hours, that they would have been all comfortable and close to be able to kiss properly.

They took the same elevator to the garage, but it was filled with other police officers and they could only exchange a few fugitive looks and gently touch their fingers, without being noticed. But by the time they had arrived to her car, Andy finally had had the occasion to say something.

"Will you make me a promise?" he asked.

"Depends. Ask away," she looked at him puzzled.

"Promise me you will never be tired of being drunk with my love," he was looking charming and smiling. Hopeful for a great answer. But Sharon couldn't promise eternity when she didn't have a look into her future for more than a few years.

"This I can promise you. I can promise you that, no matter what or where **us** will go," she gestured the two of them and took in a deep breath. "I can promise you that I will never love anyone more than you," for now her only promise could be for him to be the real first and most strong love for life.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

 **At the movies**

"Which movie would you like to see?" Andy opened the door for Sharon to enter.

"Anything you would like, I really don't care. Just want to relax and enjoy it!" She grabbed his hand as soon as he entered the cinema as well.

"Well that reduces the possibilities sensitevely, you want a romantic movie," he couldn't avoid but notice how easily she had squeezed his hand with hers, she seemed comfortable with it and he liked it. Acting like a real couple, for once, felt really good.

"If you want to see anything else," Andy mumbled something. "Andy, we need to establish a communication made of words,"

"Okay, well I don't care which movie we get to see, as long as I can kiss you?" He grinned with his silly face that made her laugh.

Sharon stretched on her toes to kiss him. He thought she was picking his cheek but instead she turned his chin towards her and kissed his lips. "You mean like this?"

"I'm sorry I got distracted, can you do that again?" He joked. Sharon kissed him again. "I'm sorry I can't focus today, can you repeat it?"

"Andy!" Sharon slapped him on his arm and he laughed. "Buy the tickets, now!"

"Yes, Ma'am. Anything you say, Ma'am!" Andy walked closer to the ticket-office. "Two adults for the cheesy romance, please!" Sharon slapped him again and the guy behind the glass giggled. He seemed much too young to Andy, to understand the dynamics of a relationship, but not too young to understand that boys watch those movies just for their girls.

"There you go with your tickets and enjoy the movie!" The young boy said.

While walking away, after he grabbed the tickets, Andy put an arm around Sharon's shoulders, "Oh I will be focused on kissing her, it will be enjoyable for sure," he shouted walking away.

"Why do you have to be so embarassing with everyone?" Sharon was whispering to him, expressing her dislike for his comment.

"Nobody knows me here, I can be myself." They stopped by the bar to buy some popcorns. Sharon was looking at all the delicious things exposed behind the glasses and Andy found it rather amusing. "Don't tell me you are looking for sweets, you have me to cover that!" He leaned in and kissed her softly.

When they parted Sharon hummed pleased by it, "well then I'll just have the pop-corn and a bottle of water, please."

After taking their seats in the theater, Sharon noticed that Andy was looking around. There was barely anyone there, and it was a strange look for him, but just after she realized he was checking that no one suspicious had been following them. Despite their choice to spend a quiet and easy night at the movies, he wouldn't forget that someone was murdering his dates.

"Hey look there," Andy whispered to Sharon to look at a couple of teens smooching three lines ahead. "He's pushing her too hard, she is almost falling from her seat."

"Oh shut up, expert! They are just teens, discovering new things," Sharon tried to move his attention away from them.

"Oh trust me, they have discovered a lot already. He has for sure," Andy wouldn't give up on watching at them, "one of her boobs for sure!"

"You are a pervert," Sharon rolled her eyes at him.

"It's not my hand under her shirt, but maybe…" Andy leaned in and got closer to Sharon. "We should show them how you do it. We are the adults, they have to take example from us," he put on a naughty smirk.

"Don't you dare kissing me," Sharon stuffed a pop-corn into his mouth as he leaned in and they both laughed. But it had not lasted too long, because she had then pulled him to herself and kissed him.

They kissed for a couple of minutes, tasting each other's flavor with their mouths. Andy tasted like pop-corn and butter and Sharon of the mint of her toothpaste; unintenionally, Sharon hit the pop-corn can with her leg and it fell to the floor. "Oh no!"

"Hey, that's fine it happens!" Andy tried to look around for someone to call and tell them they had made a little mess, but Sharon was faster than him and stood up.

"I'm going to call someone and buy a new one for us," she quickly walked out.

"No Shar…" she was already gone before he could block her. The truth was that Andy hadn't want to leave her one minute, but he couldn't follow her around everywhere, she would have noticed and not appreciated it. Sharon wasn't the kind of woman who thought of herself as a weak one that needed to be protected; she was very cautious, that for sure, but she was capable of defending herself. And she carried a gun just like he did, and she was actually much better and more precise at shooting than he was. But that didn't surprise Andy, because she liked to be _pratically perfect in every way_.

He waited for her impatiently.

Sharon leaned on the counter of the bar calling the bar attendant, "Hello?" She heard a noise coming from the storage room, just at the right of where she was standing. She looked behind the theater door, thinking it would have been great if only Andy had been there too, but he wasn't. Sharon slowly walked to the room and quietly opened its door, "Hello. Is anyone in here?" The room was dark.

"Can I help you?"

"Oh my God!" The boy that had served them before appeared behind her back, scaring her. Sharon tried to catch her breath again, "yes! Sorry you scared me,"

"I am sorry, it wasn't my intention!"

"Oh nothing to worry about, it's alright. I accidentally knocked the pop-corn over in the theater, so we need a new one and maybe someone to clean? It's all over the floor," Sharon smiled but she still felt very bad about it.

The guy talked to another attendant working there about the theater to clean and he put in action the machine for fresh pop-corns, "It will take just a few minutes,"

Sharon nodded smiling again. She couldn't be sure about it but she felt somewhat observed. There were a few people around the hall, and most of them were teens getting all excited for the new horror movie, but there was a pair of eyes that were looking on her and she couldn't identify. It was sending shivers down her spine and the cold spread through her body. It wasn't pleasant and she hoped it would be over soon. As she paid and left the bar to go back inside the theater to Andy, she felt steps walking behind her; her heart started to beat faster, and every step closer to the red curtains was a faster step she took.

"Why are you following me?" Sharon had stopped all of a sudden, too tired to be scared and run away and facing her follower. In that moment, Andy appeared from behind the red curtain of the theater where he had been waiting for her.

"Is everything alright?" he said.

"He is following me," Sharon's hand was shaking while pointing to the man. Andy turned his face into anger looking at him. He was trying to visualize his feature if he was someone from his past he knew, someone who could be involved with these murders and that was now following Sharon.

"No, no. You are wrong, ma'am!" The man gave to Sharon her wallet, "you lost this and I was returning it to you," she was so embarassed for having accused him wrongly.

"I am so sorry, I really thought you were…"

The man had a laugh, "well I can see that a beautiful woman would fear a man in his coat. These times don't give us hope in people, have a nice evening." He greeted and left.

Sharon was still so embarassed by that moment, and she looked at herself being so weak in front of Andy, "I really need to relax. That poor man was just doing a nice thing. Why are you here anyway?" She looked at him puzzled as they walked back inside the theater.

"I didn't see you coming back and I got worried. They cleaned around our seats," he entered the line of seats before her to take his seat and help her with the pop-corn box.

"Yeah, I told them I made a mess, what a day!" Sharon sat down comfortably and got as close as possible to Andy, to settle into his warm hug. She was still feeling that cold and the sensation of being spied on hadn't left her. The man wasn't following her, but nonetheless she had felt someone's eyes on herself.

"Just relax and enjoy the movie," when the light turned off Andy stengthened his hand grip on her left arm. He wasn't going to move away that arm from around her shoulders for the whole length of the movie, that was sure; and Sharon didn't seem to object or reject it. She needed to be reassured everything was going to be fine, and for that night she was okay feeling a little weak, and letting him be her protector.

After only 30 minutes of movie, Andy noticed that Sharon was sobbing and teary. Women were really weird when they were around romantic comedies. The typical scene of him declaring his love to her, made Andy laugh but she had slapped his chest immediately.

"I told you that I loved you less than 4 hours ago and you didn't cry," he whispered in her ear and the lady from the line behind shushed him.

Sharon clasped her left hand with his, while his arm was still wrapped around her shoulders, and she bent her head back on his shoulder. Andy had a look at his watch and he saw that he still had more than an hour and half to go, he kept looking around and with the big light from the screen he saw again the teens making out. "Oh God, Sharon. Look!" He pointed to them and the lady behind them shushed him again. When he laughed again about the kids making out and the lady shushed him a third time he let go of the grip on her and turned, "you shush me again I'll arrest you because you bothered me. The seats are empty, move elsewhere!" Sharon rolled her eyes and put her forehead in her hand. In moments like this she wished she hadn't been seen with him.

But it worked out because the lady had moved to another seat. Andy breathed finally for being left alone to his fun. "Andy that was rude," she whispered. He shrugged and sat more comfortable on his seat, moving again his arm around her shoulders. After a few minutes, he poked at her leg again to call her attention back on the kids. "Andy, there are people kissing right now on the screen too. Look at that!"

He snorted. He was getting really bored, and Sharon made a mental note to never again watch a romantic movie with him.

"I have a better idea," without giving her much time to think or even asking, Andy leaned on Sharon and started to kiss her. He wasn't interested in the movie, and he had hoped she would have found kissing him more interesting too, and that seemed to work for a few. They were alone there, nobody knew them, in a dark room and they were kissing passionately and intensively. It had been only a day they hadn't really seen each other or kissed like this, but with all the preoccupations of their days it had seemed like years that they hadn't been together.

When they parted, Andy was satisfied by his choice to take her by surprise, and Sharon was still tasting the flavor of his warm mouth kissing her. She smiled, with her eyes still closed, and then she squeezed into his hug, with only an armrest to separate their bodies. "I love you," she whispered softly and deeply. He kissed her forehead and smiled.

Andy was the happiest man on Earth, right now.


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

When the movie ended, Andy was the first one rushing to walk out of the theater, and as Sharon got closer to him he took her hand in his. "Nice movie," he said while they started walking out.

"Nice movie? For the most part you watched at those kids kissing and fought with the lady sitting behind us,"

"They were making out, Sharon. Not just kissing," he stressed.

Sharon looked at him with a bored look, "and what was after? You decided to give them a lesson and show them that adults can make out at the movies as well?"

"You didn't seem to dislike it when I did it," his smirking face was irritating her.

"I didn't say I didn't like it, but it was inappropriate!" Sharon fixed her jacket on her body better, it had become more cold since they had arrived, and she hadn't thought about putting on something that could keep her warmer.

Andy noticed it and let go of her hand to put his arm around her shoulders. "Interesting,"

"What?" Sharon moved her arm around him, behind his back.

"You sell your personal life out for me, you kiss me in a cinema and you whisper to me you love me." He had started to mock her and he knew this irritated her so much, "I'm starting to believe you have the hots for me."

"If I'm not wrong, **you** kissed me during the movie, you might have the hots for me," they had arrived to his car and Sharon was opening the door and entering it.

"Oh that's for sure," Andy got into the car as well. "So, want to grab a bite?" He fastened his seat belt and so did she.

"I would like something different tonight, what do you say about hamburgers?"

Andy looked at her with a curios look. He turned on the engine, "what have I done to you? You are going wild, Captain!"

They stopped by a nice stand on promenade. It was windy but the noise of the waves was a nice and romantic atmosphere for them. After placing their orders, Sharon sat so she could look at the sea. As a kid she grew up at the mountains, with her family, they always had loved the mountains better than the sea. But when she grew up, and moved out on her own and had her own family, she had developped a love for the sea that was wonderful to her. That rough sea was calming the storm inside her heart.

Andy got close to her and hugged her from behind, sitting next to her spot. "A penny for your thoughts?" He kissed the back of her head.

"I was just thinking how beautiful it would be to live by the sea, can you imagine? To wake up and find this marvellous view and reading a book on the beach in the early noon," she tightened her grip on his arms, feeling all the warmth coming from his body.

"And then driving all the way to work in the high traffic," they called for their order and Andy stood up to grab them. Andy was a man of the town, he loved the noise of traffic and the buildings. The harmony and quiet of such places wasn't something he could understand. He was a very romantic man, but under certain aspects he really couldn't see the romance in places.

Andy came back to their table with their hamburgers and sat in front of Sharon. He started to cover the meat with ketchup and mustard and took off all the cucumber from it. She looked at him amused. "Wouldn't you like living here? Just you and I?"

Andy was almost chocking, "are you suggesting we live together?"

"No Andy, I'm assuming a possibility of moving to the sea with you. Just thinking how it would be," she bit her hamburger and Andy found it rather cute that after a few minutes trying to find the right side where to bite, she only gave it a little and very small touch of her teeth. It would have taken them hours before she finished all of that.

"Okay, by assumption that we get to live by the sea." He stopped for some thinking, "honestly, Sharon?" She nodded. "I would love to live alone with you and have you all to myself, but not here." Finally he bited his hamburger and almost half of it was already gone. "We have been here for 20 minutes and I'm bored already," he sipped from his bottle of water.

Sharon looked at him. She loved how he was always sincere saying things, he wouldn't hide the truth just to please her. "Okay, well I would love to live here. So maybe one day I'll buy a house and you can come and visit me, if you would like!"

"But just because it's you," Andy had finished his hamburger and was watching at Sharon's attempts to eat without dirtying herself. He turned to look at the sea and he reflected upon her words, they were maybe right, it was enchanting and relaxing. Maybe for a holiday though, not for a lifetime. "Maybe we could spend a romantic week-end here," he said still looking at it.

Sharon looked at him and smiled. "Okay, I'm full. I cannot finish this," she moved the plate away from her and offered it to Andy to finish.

"I should eat something you ate half of? Who was it that once wanted another spoon to taste my ice-cream," Andy put on a silly thinking face. "Let me think,"

Sharon sarcastically showed him a smile, "for being one who will possibly want to enjoy a night with me, you are mocking me way too much. Be careful, the line you are walking on it's very thin, wouldn't want it to break at half way," there was something in her voice that was deep and teasing, and totally scary. He knew that was the wicked witch he had fallen in love with, but he also knew he never had to dare her. He couldn't win against that side of her.

Andy took her plate without saying any more words. "Does it change anything if I tell you again that I love you?" He asked with a soft tone.

"Not really, but it's always nice to hear it!" Sharon had stood up and moved next to Andy. He was still eating when she sat down and hugged him and kissed his neck.

"You may be right," Andy had finished eating and turned to hug Sharon. She hummed with a questioning tone, "I may like to stay like this here with you," she lifted up her chin to face him and smiled. Sorrow and preoccupations hadn't left his mind, he was still scared that being so close to her would harm her in some way; they weren't anywhere close to find the killer and he couldn't even be part of the investigation, to know further information about it. All he could do was hope that nothing would have happened to Sharon. He would have never forgiven himself if it did.

"Andy?" Sharon tried sneaking into his jacket to cover herself, "what did Chief Johnson tell you about us?"

"Well," he cleared his voice and took off his jacket to give it to her. She had tried to refuse it but he had insisted. In the meantime, they had stood up and started walking towards his car. "She was speechless. She couldn't believe of all the women I chose you and then she said it wasn't any of her business," he shrugged at his boss craziness. She literally had changed her mind within a few seconds. He could only imagine what Provenza would have done if he knew. "She gave me three days off but told me to show up to Pope's office sometime tomorrow, to talk," Andy didn't know what it was about, but he could have imagined. This meeting, though, happened at the most appropriate time because he had something to say to Chief Pope as well. More to ask him.

"Oh," Sharon looked surprised. "He gave me two days off as well, he said to cool things down around the division. But I have one day I took on my own for a visit," Andy looked curious. "Oh nothing serious, just a check up with my doctor that everything is fine," she smiled.

They had arrived at the car and as a good gentleman Andy opened the door for her. "I can come with you, if you'd like." He entered the car as quickly as possible, it was really cold outside and he could feel all of it without his jacket.

"Oh you don't have to worry, Andy. Stay at home and relax, you need some rest."

"No problem at all. I am glad to do these simple daily things with you," he smiled and it was so sweet that it convinced her. He was so right, these simple daily things-as he had called them- were so normal and made their relationship so canon that she loved the thought of it. Her husband never did, he wasn't even present at her first ecography for their kids, or any of the followings.

"Andy, would it be okay if we stay at your place tonight?" Sharon asked and took him by surprise. She had never expressed before the wish to sleep over at his place; it wasn't really too messy but he was embarassed for having cared so little about his house.

"No sure, not a problem but I hope you don't mind a little mess around," he grinned at her.

"I don't think I will see anything of that, if I am all focused on making you happy," her naughty look said it all. She stretched on her seat and reached his cheek for a kiss.

Andy was happy, it had really been a perfect night. "What time is your appointment tomorrow?" He was taking this very seriously and intended to go with her. Sharon thought it was very sweet of him to want to drive her to the doctor, she ignored that his plan had been to watch over her without really being noticed doing by her.

"11 a.m." she replied quickly, "why?"

"I was thinking that I can drive you there and while you are in for your visit I can go and meet Pope in his office," Andy took a quick look at Sharon noticing she was almost falling asleep. "Hey, the drive is a little longer to my place, why don't you take a nap? There's a long night waiting ahead, I wouldn't want you to fall asleep while we…" he left it to the gestures to understand what he meant, and it had made Sharon snort-laugh. Never before had she fallen asleep during sex, but she was extremely tired from all the preoccupations and talking of the previous night. A little sleep wasn't going to hurt.

"Are you sure? I don't want to leave you in silence during the drive,"

Andy turned on the radio in his car, "Naa. Phill Collins and I will be more than fine on our own," the music had started to spread through the car. He hadn't turned up the volume too high, it was enough to be heard but not too loud to disturb her sleep.

Andy watched her falling asleep and at the first stop, he put his jacket on her to cover her better. She looked so quiet and delicate, while sleeping. It was almost as if she would break if he touched her. And she was beautiful, oh if she was beautiful; it was a thought haunting his mind. He loved her and Sharon had to be protected, at all costs.


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

They arrived at Andy's house and Sharon had been asleep the whole time. He woke her up gently, first kissing her cheek and then shaking her shoulder a little. Nonetheless, she startled at his touch. He helped her getting out of the car, and Sharon tripped on the sidewalk because her footing was misplaced.

"How much have you been drinking, Sharon?"

She looked at him with an annoyed look, "it was water, Andy. And you know it!"

"Ehh who knows what you have been doing while I wasn't there," he joked and Sharon separated from him.

"I tripped and you are being rude and are really annoying when you act like this," she stopped and folded her arms. "You make me want to jump in the car and drive back to my place,"

Andy reached her. "Except that this is my car and I have the keys. Okay I promise not to mock you anymore," he kissed the top of her nose. "You are smiling, I got you!"

Sharon hid her smile, "I am not smiling!" She wrapped her arm around Andy's back and they started to walk.

"It's getting cold outside, do you want some hot chocolate?" Andy leaned his head down to kiss her gently. This _normal couple_ walking and talking made him extremely happy. It felt natural and easy and she didn't seem to want to reject him, but embrace all the tenderness that came from their simple actions together.

Sharon tightened her grip on him, trying to hug him with both her arms as they walked. "There isn't much light on this street," she noticed.

Andy nodded. "Last week's storm burnt the control unit. We have called already to get it fix but nobody cares of this lost streets of the town," he shrugged. It wasn't a big deal to him.

Sharon kept looking around cautious. "Why didn't we park into your garage?" She noticed that he had a parking space next to his door, and couldn't understand why he parked in front of it.

"Ah, come I'll show you," Andy let go of her and walked towards the garage. He opened it and they went inside, where he turned on the lights. He slowly started to unwrap a covered car. "Here it is, my beautiful girl," he showed her an old car. He was proud of it and he had even defined it his girl.

Sharon wasn't estranged to these things, as her own father had a real passion for old cars and she heard him even naming them after women's names. "Your beautiful girl?" She questioned him with a curious look, and then she snorted.

Andy smiled and moved closer to her, putting his arms around her waist. "Don't worry. We are just friends," he kissed her on her lips. "You are the only one I want to see naked," he smirked.

Sharon loosened from his grip, "well considering that you are working on the motor I think, and trying to fix the breaks oil cup that keeps spilling out," she looked at him pleased that he was surprised. "I would say that you have seen **her** naked, long before you actually saw **me** naked." Now she smirked at him, "Yes. I know a few things about old cars. My father was-"

She watched Andy quickly closing the garage door and grab her into his arms. He started to kiss her as he walked them into the house and wouldn't let go of her lips, "what about that chocolate to warm up?" She managed to say a few words between a kiss and another.

"Oh I will warm you up, don't worry!" Andy put her down and tried to take off his clothes as fast as he could; he then moved onto undressing her, while she was laughing amused at his attempts to unbotton her blouse. She moved her long and slender fingers on his hands and helped him unbottoning it. Andy slided his hands on her hips and moved down to the zipper of her jeans.

After undressing to just their underwears he couldn't wait any longer and took her into his arms again to go to the bedroom. Her lips were wandering all over his neck, saying _I love you_ every now and then.

They had been exhausted when it ended, but satisfied. Andy was still gasping when he talked, "I don't know if I told you before," he took another breath. "But you are the most wonderful of my friends,"

Sharon was still gasping too and she snort-laughed, "I bet. I am sure you are not so intimate with Provenza,"

Andy turned on his side to face her and their noses met. They both smiled, "no I am not. But he yells at me like a wife, so I think it gives some sort of intimacy to our friendship."

Sharon laughed again. It amazed her how he could give her the most intense feelings she ever felt, and be a total idiot the minute after and make her laugh.

"Why don't we get some sleep now?" Andy slowly moved closer to her to wrap her sweating thin body into his hug.

"Will you hold me the whole night?" She gave him a kiss before she closed her eyes.

"I hadn't thought of leaving you, not even for a second," he returned her kiss and they both fell asleep into each other's arms, heart to heart and with a smile on their faces.

8.30 a.m.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty!" Andy was behind the stoves cooking.

"Andy, it's incredibly late why didn't you wake me up?" Sharon entered wearing his shirt and looked at herself into a mirror, "Oh my God, what is it with my hair?" She was shocked at how messy they looked.

"Result of a passionate night of love making with the man you love," he smiled thinking again about last night. It had been romantic and wild at same time; he needed her as much as she needed him. He could feel it in her moans, and her kisses and her pleasure spreading and the sweating of their bodies combining at every movement.

"What's this smell? Breakfast?" Sharon went closer to him and hugged him from behind. She kissed his naked back. Andy had a habit to cook without any shirt on, she had noticed, and she couldn't say she didn't enjoy the view of his hairy chest and his great muscles. He hadn't been training at the gym as he used to before, but he still did some boxing sometimes, to keep in shape.

"You are learning the terminology, I'm impressed," he mocked her again. She put on a sarcastic smile. "Okay, here we have bacon, eggs, orange juice, fresh pineapple and cantaloupe, pancakes or if you prefer the classic cereals and milk," Andy brought to the table the pancakes he was preparing on the stoves and sat down.

"Andy, what…" Sharon was surprised, "for how many people did you cook for?"

"Just you and I, oh…" he stood up quickly and came back with a jug of coffee, "I had forgotten the coffee for you!" He poured her some coffee in her mug.

Sharon sipped from it and tasted all the wonderful flavour of fresh coffee, "Mmm always good but Andy. All of this it's too much!"

"Just eat what you want, we will save the rest for another time," he started to put some scrambled eggs and bacon in his plate.

Sharon watched him enjoying the breakfast and eating a lot of what he had cooked. It was true that men really ate a lot more than women, but he must have been extremely hungry to eat so much of it. She tasted a bit of everything, not to let him down after he dedicated so much of his energy on cooking, but she wasn't very hungry. She hadn't felt good for a few days now, and this doctor visit couldn't come at a better time.

 **11.20 a.m.**

Andy was shaking his leg nervously. They were sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office and he had been more nervous than her. "It's already been 20 minutesthat we have been waiting and your appointment was at 11," he showed her his watch.

"Andy, you don't have to wait here with me." She put a hand on his leg to calm him down, "didn't you say you were going to meet with Pope while I was here?"

"Yeah!" He scratched the back of his head, "I called before we left home and they told me to go there later that he was busy now." Truth to be told, Andy had called but to tell Chief Pope's secretary that he would have been there as soon as possible after his visit with a doctor. He hadn't been too much specific, but he didn't want to leave Sharon alone and Pope wasn't busy in any meeting.

Finally they called her, "are you waiting for me here or…" Sharon didn't want Andy to come inside with her, but she couldn't tell him not to. She left it to him to decide and sadly he hadn't decided to stay outside. There wasn't anything that she wanted to hide from him, but she felt that, as intimate as the two of them had become, there were certain aspects that needed to be left to one's privacy. And this was one of those cases. "Good morning, Dr. Hoffman," Sharon entered the room while Andy was holding the door open for her.

"Good morning, Sharon." He shook her hand after.

"Dr. Hoffman please meet my…" she wasn't sure how to introduce him.

Andy took the lead of the conversation and shook the doctor's hand, introducing himself. "Andy Flynn, I'm a very good friend,"

He looked sure of himself, sometimes Sharon envied his high self-esteem. He didn't have any fear of looking awkward or inappropriate. She, instead, always feared being at the wrong place at the wrong time, to say the wrong thing and that nobody liked her, because after all, everytime she entered a room, everyone just went silent and they all feared her too much.

"Please, take a seat." The doctor kindly invited them to sit down. "Okay Sharon, how are we feeling?"

He pointed her the exam table. Sharon sat down and started to unbutton her shirt. Suddenly she felt very embarassed to do it in front of Andy. "Do you want me to…?" The doctor grabbed the screen to cover her but she refused it.

"No, it's okay. Andy is my boyfriend," she finally had said it.

"Oh," the doctor didn't say anything else but moved to his desk to take a note. Ever since separating from Jack, Sharon had changed her doctor, because her previous one was a very good friend of her husband and she didn't want to have any sort of connection to him. Doctor Hoffman only knew Sharon had been married and that she and her husband were estranged. "So you were saying?" He asked Sharon to keep going with her description of how she was feeling.

"I feel weird, honestly. It's been a few days that my stomach has been a little difficult," she rubbed her belly. "Nothing too serious but I noticed this sensation of nausea and tiredness,"

"Have you been working more than usual lately?" Andy snort-laughed at the doctor's question and then apologized for distracting them.

Sharon thought for a few seconds, "well not more than the last months but there was a lot of pressure and stress, that's for sure."

"Well stress could be one of the causes, what else has changed in your life in these past months?"

Sharon was so embarassed to answer, she looked at Andy. Thankfully the doctor understood immediately, "Okay. Please lay down on your back," he grabbed his stethoscope to take her heart beat. "There is a slight irregularity in your heartbeating, but nothing I'd worry about. In some cases it's normal with age and stress and a regular sexual activity," Sharon became red with embarassment.

After checking all her vitals and pressing his fingers on her stomach to understand when she felt the highest pain he asked her to get dressed again, "there isn't really anything I would worry about, Sharon. You just seem to have a few sign of a virus that is going around these times. I will prescribe you some vitamins and with a few days of rest you will feel much better already," the doctor put on his glasses and started writing.

Sharon avoided Andy's look the whole time until he grabbed her hand and whispered to her, "why didn't you tell me you were feeling sick?" Sharon shushed him and let go of his grip on her hand.

When they left the clinic she nervously walked faster than him. "Sharon, wait!" Andy tried to call after her to make her wait for him.

"You had to stay out," she stopped and started crying. Andy was puzzled, he didn't understand what she meant. "You should have stayed out and wait for me. You had no right to enter with me, you had to…" she started gasping.

Sharon almost fell on the street but Andy caught her before, "hey, are you okay?"

She was still crying and sobbing, "why didn't you stay in the waiting room?"

"I'm sorry, Sharon. I didn't think you…" he looked at her, she was pale but her cheek were red. "I am sorry. It won't happen again, but now we need you to go home. You're sick, Sharon. You probably have fever," he helped her up and put his arm around her back to help her walking to the car.

"And your meeting with Pope?" Andy had forgotten about it already. "Andy I can wait for you in my office,"

He didn't want to take her to work, and he didn't even want to leave her home alone. He couldn't reschedule with Pope and he needed to meet with him. "Okay, I will take you to your office, but you won't move from there and you will lay down on a sofa, deal?" He reluctanctly accepted her offer.

Sharon nodded in agreement, she wasn't at her best to work anyway. She felt tiredness hitting on her again and even if she was breathing better, she still felt short of air at times. He was right, she was getting sick and Sharon Raydor had never gotten sick before.

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

"Honestly Lieutenant, you are not in the position to ask for favors," Pope had been strict and clear with Andy. They had been talking now for about half an hour and he didn't seem to want to listen to any reason.

He couldn't understand how, above everyone else, Captain Raydor had put herself into such a delicate position, dating a subordinate and now he was asking him a favor, it was incredible to Pope's thinking.

"May I speak frankly, Sir?" Andy hadn't sat comfortable one time, he had held the position this whole time. Pope nodded him to go on. "I am not assigned to Major Crimes at the moment and the best perspective is to direct traffic downtown. I am not asking you to put on a task force and protect her, I am asking you to assign me to her protection. I will watch on her 24/7 and will do it all on my own, Sir!"

He had asked Pope to assign him as private security to guard and protect Sharon. There was a serial killer who had targeted him and all his past women, and it was now a matter of time that this killer would have taken Sharon as his target too. "Sir, if you will not assign me to this I will do it myself anyway but with a lot of more bad consequences if anything were to happen," and he meant it. He wasn't going to leave her alone, in fact, he had left her to the close watch of a detective of her division and had told him not to move from his position before he was back.

"So you will do it regardless of what I decide?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"And if I assign you to traffic you will ask for your days of vacation for watching her instead?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Well, you leave me no other choices then, Lieutenant" Pope signed off the papers for his temporary reassignment.

Andy took in a deep breath, "Thank you, Chief!"

He had just closed Pope's office door and was walking to FID when his phone beeped. Andy grabbed it from his pocket to find a message from Provenza; he didn't want to open it but he had to. During these past hours, his partner had kept him informed even if he shouldn't have to.

 _Number 6 at the morgue. Meet you at home later._ His worst nightmare wasn't coming to an end.


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Andy was so nervous.

He had just finally been granted to watch over Sharon full time, during his off-time from the Major Crimes investigation, and now another body had come to the morgue. He wanted to throw everything up in the air everything and punch every wall he was walking by; but he held it together and started walking in the opposite direction where he was supposed to: the morgue!

"Lieutenant, you cannot be seen here!" Chief Johnson had just come out of the examination room with Dr. Morales and Provenza following.

"I need to see her," Chief Johnson had a quick look at Provenza, knowing he had been the bird speaking in their division to his partner, but she didn't seem as angry as everyone would have expected.

Dr. Morales had tried to oppose, because Andy wasn't supposed to be involved, but Chief Johnson assured him that nobody was going to know about it.

They let him in and he came out devastated, only Provenza could understand why.

"Her name was Lynette," Andy was standing in front of the white board. They came back upstairs with all informations from the morgue and pictures of her bruises. She had been tortured, burnt and stabbed several times, left bleeding out to die after a failed attempt of suffocation. "She was my only serious relationship after my divorce," he didn't want to think about her. He had surely loved her, his own way, not the same as it was now with Sharon, but they had been together for several months and it had been intense, and destroying, and they had had a past of fights and yellings, but he had loved her. And because of that she was now dead.

"Flynn, is everything alright?" Provenza approached to his partner. He was visibly shaken by this last discovery.

Andy didn't say a word and simply nodded, "I need a favor. When you have a minute I need you to go to my place and put a few things in a bag, I won't be home for a few days."

Provenza agreed to help but he couldn't understand why. He had wanted to ask but Chief Johnson had entered the room quickly and sent him out because Pope was about to arrive. He wasn't to be seen there, and he also had another place to be, at this point.

Two things had been clear to Andy after this last discovery: the killer had something to do with him, and he was perfectioning at his thing, because now it was evident he had a scheme to arrive to the highest of targets. The past women had been just a trying, even Lynette was, but differently from the previous five, she was more important to Andy.

With these thoughts he walked his way down to Sharon's office. It was empty. "Setective, where is Captain Raydor?"

"She went to the toilette, she wasn't feeling good," he replied.

"And you didn't follow her?" Andy shouted while running to find her. He had asked him to guard her the whole time and never let her go anywhere alone. He didn't even think that he was entering the ladies room. "Sharon!" He shouted looking for her.

He heard noises from one of the cabins and coughing, "Andy?" Hearing her voice, even if broken and in pain, gave him relief. "What are you doing in here? It's the ladies room." She threw up again.

Andy opened the door of the cabin and leaned down to help her, "They told me you were here, you got pretty screwed up with this virus thing," he grabbed her hair and held her head. Another very embarassing moment for Sharon, she surely hadn't wanted him to see her like that, but she couldn't help it.

When she finally felt she had thrown up everything possibly left in her stomach, she gestured him to help her up. He walked with her to the sink for a quick wash. "You didn't need to come in here and see me like this," she was quiet and whispering. There was nobody around but she was whispering to him, he could still feel some anger into her tone from having followed her into the doctor's room before.

"Sharon, look. I know I did wrong before, and I'm sorry about it." She had finished washing but he was still grabbing her hair not to let them wet, "but you cannot ask me to wait outside here, knowing you are suffering. Okay? I want to help you. You are sick, and weak and even if you don't like to admit it, you need my help and I am not going to leave you alone in this, okay?"

Sharon nodded, and when she finally was all put back together and ready to leave, he left go of her hair and she hugged him. She had only been sick when pregnant before, and nobody had been around helping her, she was still mad at Andy but grateful he hadn't given up on her. "You are irritating, Sharon you know?" She looked at him puzzled, "when I was sick I made a mess and you are well organized even when you're sick," she hadn't made a mess anywhere.

They went out that he was holding her and she was solidly trusting his hug to keep standing, "I'm burning," she finally admitted being sick.

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

Sharon woke up in her bed, she must have been very sick and tired and didn't remember anything that had happened after he helped her in the bathroom at work. She found a tray on her nightstand, with a plate of food that didn't seem to have been touched.

On the other side of the bed, Andy was sleeping. He way laying on his stomache, with a leg out of the bed, still dressed in his suit but without the jacket. He must have fallen asleep from tiredness, she thought.

Sharon stood up slowly, not to wake him up but also because her head was spinning badly. She tried to get out of bed quietly and without making noise, and as soon as she managed to stand up without falling back, she turned to find something to put on. She saw him looking in her direction with one eye open.

"Where do you think you are going, _princess_?"

"Bathroom," she could barely talk feeling the dryness of her throat. He had put a glass of water on that tray and she drank it all in one shot. It was refreshing, and good and it seemed to give life again to her system.

"Okay, let's go." Andy had been so tired not even to be able to take off his shoes, before he crashed onto the bed, but he had now jumped to walk with her to the bathroom.

"You don't have to, go back to sleep," she had wanted to push him back on the bed but she was too weak.

"I am awake already, what else do I have to do otherwise?" He shrugged and grabbed her arm.

Sharon looked at him as they started walking, "reading, cooking.."

"You didn't even eat what I cooked," he interrupted her.

Sharon sighed, "going to work!"

"Oh I have been reassigned, I have flexible hours and I can work from here," he was thrilled to describe this new job he had been assigned.

"And what would that possibly be?" They arrived to the bathroom and Andy let Sharon enter first, but as he was entering too she closed the door, she didn't shut it completely but left it open slightly in case she needed for him to hear her shouting for help.

Andy leaned on the wall, "Pope assigned me to private vigilance," he waited a few seconds for a response. "To you!"

"What?"

She had heard him. "Sharon, we need to talk when you get out. It cannot wait anymore," it had arrived that time he needed to tell her all the truth. She had to be put apart about the sixth body and the importance of that woman for him, and also she had to be informed about his theory, because she was possibly going to be the next one.

When Sharon came out of the bathroom she looked scared. She couldn't know what this discussion could possibly be about, but she wasn't happy about it. From his tone, she understood it wasn't an easy thing.

They walked slowly to the living room, and sat down on the couch. Sharon was covered into a blanket and Andy was gently stroking her legs that she had put up to rest on his. They talked for a while and about everything. "So that's all about it," Andy had told her everything about Lynette, how important she had been to him, and he also informed her about where and how they found her, about the tortures and everything else. "I think this dirtbag wants you, and this is why I am now assigned to your private care!"

"Okay, I understand the worry. But why me? Why not your ex-wife? Or your daughter?" Sharon couldn't understand. They hadn't told anybody about them, only Chief Pope and Chief Johnson knew about it and only in the very recent days. How could a stranger have known unless having followed them?

"Well I guess," he thought about it. "My ex-wife, I mean, we can barely stand each other. I'm not saying I would be happy to see her dead, but it's not as intimate as you," Sharon smiled to this. "And my daughter, I don't know. Maybe it's not that personal. If you think about it, it's all about women I dated so-"

"Are they sure it's a man? Maybe it's a woman who…" there was a knock at the door that interrupted their conversation. Andy stood up and walked to it.

He took in a deep breath before he opened it and winked at her, "Now tell me why the hell do I have to bring your stuff here!" Provenza had arrived.


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Andy gestured him to enter the apartment.

"So why in the hell am I… oh," Provenza finally noticed Sharon sitting on the couch, "why is she here?" He tried to whisper to Andy.

"I live here, Lieutenant." Sharon replied with a sarcastic tone and a smile. "Please, have a seat," she saw him walking to the armchair and he hadn't stopped looking at her once, not even to blink. "Would you like some tea?" She offered him.

"Flynn!" Provenza sat down and shouted to his partner who left his bag behind the sofa and went back sitting where he was before. Sharon put her legs on his again. "What is all this?" The old man pointed to them and their tender moment.

"What? Do you want a drawing to understand?"

Provenza stayed in silence for a few seconds, "why do you do this to me? Of all the women, her…?"

"I may be sick, Lieutenant, but my hearing still works," Sharon replied.

"I am not doing you anything to you. We met, we enjoy being with each other, it's none of your business," Andy stood up at the sound of an alarm clock. "It's time for your medicines," he walked to the kitchen counter and took two pills and a glass of water to Sharon.

Provenza looked at all the scene disbelieving, "I am speechless!"

"What a wonderful moment to see, you without words. Remember this day and do it more often, thank you!" Andy had given Sharon her vitamins and was sitting back on the sofa. "What did you find out?"

Andy knew that Provenza had brought him something from the case, other than his bag. Sharon sat closer to Andy, trying to have a peek on the files that Provenza was showing, but as soon as she tried to move her head started spinning again and made her feel sick again. She fell on her back.

"Hey, are you okay?" Andy moved quickly to check on her, forgetting that he had just took a paper from Provenza's hands. "Sharon, you need to lay down on the bed."

"Actually, I would rather lay down in the tub for a hot bath, I really need it!" Sharon moved away the blanket away from her legs and tried to stand up but she fell back on the couch. Andy stood up to help her and she had noticed that also Provenza had also stood up and leaned to try and help. The old man didn't hate her completely not to care, he still had some manners. She apologized to him for not being able to be a better host but he excused her, he could see she was really not feeling well.

"I'll be back in a minute," Andy turned to Provenza and asked him to wait for him to come back. He walked with Sharon to the bathroom where he turned on the tap letting water fall into the tub. "Okay, hot water is running into the tub, now let's get you undressed,"

Sharon tried getting up again, but she was feeling too dizzy. "Oh," she put a hand to her head. "It won't stop spinning," Andy got closer to her and helped her up, keeping her in his arm, while he started taking off her clothes. Sharon rested her head on his chest, "you smell good!"

Andy smiled as he took off the sweater she had on, "I showered this morning,"

"Hey, I showered too this morning and then everything went…"

Andy had started to slide down her pants, "went what?" He tried to make her finish her sentence.

"I don't know, I'm tired," Sharon had her eyes closed and was completely trusting his strength to hold her.

"You are not going to drown in the tub, right?" She nodded. She was too tired to stand on her legs and needed instead the hot water to ease the tension of her muscles. "Okay," he had finished to undressing her and now he was slowly helping her inside the tub. "I will be checking on you from time to time, just in case you fall asleep and end up drowning for real," he winked at her and left a light lips print on her forehead.

"So, are you done?" Provenza was standing in front of the couch, "really Flynn. What the hell were you thinking? With her?"

"Look, I don't know how to explain. No better **I do not want to** explain it to you or anyone else, but that's what it is. Now please sit down," he gestured him to sit again, "and get me up to date with this case. What did you find out?"

Provenza still couldn't believe his partner was dating Raydor, and judging by the easiness with which he moved around, it wasn't just being friends or going out to dinner sometimes, but they had been a lot more intimate than this. "You are an idiot anyway," he pulled out the papers. "Okay, Morales got back to us with more results," he took in a deep breath. "See these stabs here?" He pointed to the first two victims, "they are not deep and small. Seems like different objects have been used for these two murders, but these…" Provenza was running through photos of details. "These!" He picked the other four victims photos and Andy had a shock seeing Lynette's photos from the morgue again, "these are all the same. Precise, deeper and Flynn," he looked him in the eye. "The dagger seems to have broken," he showed him a photo of a fragment from it. "Morales found the top of the dagger into Lynette's body,"

Andy's eyes opened wide, "so we can go back to the type of dagger and its serial number? We need to bring it to the lab immediately,"

"Flynn," the old man was calmer now and had put a hand on his partner's arm. For some reason, Andy seemed to have forgotten he was just being informed by a good friend about the case, he still wasn't allowed to be taking part in it. " **We** are, you can't." From the bathroom they heard Sharon moaning, "go check on her!" He sent him to her as he started to collect again the photos and the papers he had brought up there.

"Is she okay?" When Andy came back he was already standing by the door and ready to leave, but he still showed some concern about the Captain being sick.

"Yes, she was trying to get out of the tub and fell again," Andy scratched his neck. He didn't know how to thank his partner for the information, but also wanted to make sure he wasn't going to tell anyone about his relationship with Sharon. "She's stubborn! Provenza thank you, I… I really appreciate you coming here and-"

"Stop! We don't need these things," he had put the hand on the knob of the door but still hadn't opened it to leave. He looked at Flynn, "I understand now why you went mad the other day." His finger pointed to the hall, "you have a type. And she is.."

"Yeah, she is. And about this, please don't tell anyone. We have tried to keep it low-key and it's worked pretty good so far,"

"I will not, because you offended me and I will not let people know you did but, you will have to inform the Chief about it," he fixed his hat on his head.

"Oh she knows about it. And Chief Pope as well. They-"

"Wait. You told them before telling me?" He interrupted him and now he was pissed that he was only the third to know. "What is wrong with you, Flynn?" He eventually opened the door and left.

Andy snort-laughed thinking of his partner, first being mad because he was sleeping with an enemy of his, and then mad because someone else knew before him. And he didn't even really had wanted to know about it, but the idea of not being the first sent him to madness.

He heard Sharon calling from the bathroom. "Hey you, are you done splashing about in the water?" He appeared at the door, leaning on his side to the doorpost and smiling charmingly to her.

"I was not splashing about, I was bathing. And yes I am done, would you please help me out?" Sharon tried to stand up leaning on her arms but she was too weak. Andy ran to help her and wet his shirt, "oh I'm sorry I wet you,"

"Not a problem. I got my bag of stuff now, I can change into something else. Here," he stretched to grab a towel for her to cover, "put this on." He gave her the towel and helped to cover with it as they were going to walk to the bedroom for her to get dressed. "I have put your clothes into the dirty laundry, we will get you into something clean," he winked at her.

Sharon couldn't avoid but look at him and thinking of the fantastic man he was. He had no obligation towards her but nonetheless he was there helping and doing everything for her; she was a lucky girl. "Maybe something purple," she teased him knowing it was his favorite color.

"Uhhh, don't tease me. I can't take advantage of you when you are sick," he leaned down and kissed her.

"Andy I'm sick, don't kiss me,"

"I will take anything you have to kiss you, Sharon!" He kissed her again, more deeply and intensively. Andy didn't care that she was sick, he still loved her like this too.

"I was thinking," Andy was helping her to get dressed as fast as he could, not to risk her getting more cold, but without hurting her. "Maybe I should try eating something to gain some strength back?" Andy nodded, "but really something easy like a sandwhich or something like that,"

"That is an excellent idea, Sharon. We don't want you to force food into your pretty body and feel sick again. We start slowly with little things," he helped her to stand up from the bed where she was sitting and looked at her all dressed. "Perfect! Now let's dry your hair," he took her hand and they walked back to the bathroom.

Andy had Sharon sitting down and gently tried to move his fingers through her hair, to dry them. He knew that she had preferred to do it herself and probably used a tool to make them straight or a brush, but for the moment it was okay to just wildly dry them. He had never done it before, and it was a weird sensation, but he looked at Sharon with her eyes closed and she seemed to enjoy his touch. "Okay, I think we are done here. Now you go back to bed and I'll prepare you that sandwhich,"

"Actually, maybe we could sit on the couch and watch something? I get tired laying in bed all day and sleeping in," she smiled at him and thanked him for the dry with a kiss.

"Sure, then get comfortable on the couch and I'll do the rest I said before," he gave her a kiss back and winked at her.

Sharon had eaten all her sandwhich, and drank all her water and when she finally sat comfortable in his arms, and with a blanket to cover her, he found out she had fallen asleep anyway, even if she had said she had no wanted to. Her head was resting on his heart, and her arm was wrapped around his waist.

Andy went back to what Provenza had told him before, of the details he had informed him about; he thought that maybe Sharon had to know them, or maybe not. For sure, this wasn't the right moment, but he had lied to her before and it hadn't turned out good. He didn't want to hide anything from her, but just wait for a better moment to put her apart with everything.

For now he was just going to enjoy holding her in his arms, where she was secured and protected to rest. Nothing could happen when he was cuddling with her.


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Sharon woke up in the middle of the night sweating. She moved her arm to her side but Andy wasn't there.

She could only remember that the evening before she had tried to have something for dinner but her body rejected it and they had ended up in the bathroom, where she had been leaning over the toilet and throwing up, and Andy was standing behind her and held her hair in his hands. She also remembered his hand, gently stroking her back, every time she had a new sensation of nausea.

She was hungry, but now afraid to not be able to hold anything in her stomach, more than her hot tea, so she decided to walk to the kitchen and put on some. It was then she noticed Andy asleep on the couch.

He looked exhausted, and how couldn't he be? Only in the past 24 hours he had done everything for her, she imagined he probably had got only a few hours of sleep, and the preoccupations from the case and her security hadn't put any less stress on him.

Sharon approached to set up better the blanket that he used to cover himself, and noticed he had a few papers on his chest and a pen that had fallen on the floor. She tried to gently take the papers and noticed his handwriting. He had written down everything that Provenza had told him before, probably not to forget about the information, and had started to throw in some ideas on a possible killer; among his ideas she found in a corner "could possibly be a woman?" as she had previously told him that afternoon.

She walked to the kitchen holding the papers and reading them in all details; she almost felt sick for reading what these women had suffered through. She put on the water to boiling for her hot tea and kept on reading.

Sharon had been so absorbed she hadn't noticed Andy waking up and walking by her side, "Oh my God! Andy, jeez!" She let go of a deep breath, "you scared me!"

"I scared you?" His hair looked messy and he was still asleep, "papers flying away from my hands and lights turning on all of a sudden. It seemed a horror movie in here just a few seconds ago," he walked to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. "What are you doing up at this hour?"

"I woke up sweating," Andy went closer and put a hand on her forehead, "but you weren't there and I came here for some tea and then you were-"

"You're fresh, the fever may be going down. What's this?" He pointed to the papers.

"Oh these," Sharon put them down on the counter. "It's your papers I was reading what-"

"Sharon, no!" Andy grabbed the papers and moved them to the coffee table in the living room. He was angry, he hadn't wanted her to read them or learn anything. He wanted to tell her but at his times and with his words.

"Don't I get the right to know how am I going to die?" He saw a tear falling from her left eye, and her answer shocked him.

"Sharon, I…" he went closer to hug her. He had calmed down immediately, knowing she feared the same things he feared too. "You will not die, honey!" She hugged him tight that he could feel her tears wetting his shirt. "Not before having a long life, the weddings of your children, and grandchildren and you will not die before me, you can't do that to me Sharon," he moved up her chin with his finger and smiled when she met his eyes. "I couldn't survive without you, it would kill me living a life without you," Sharon kissed him.

The kettle interrupted their romantic moment, "Andy?" he hummed, "no more lies or secrets. When you know something you tell me, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am. Anything you say, ma'am!" they both smiled at each other. "Now walk your pretty buttocks to the couch, lady. I'll serve you the tea and we will talk," Andy winked at her and patted her butt as she turned on her feet and smiled naughty.

Sharon sat on the couch, she was feeling better but her stomach was still feeling funny. She grabbed the blanket Andy had been covering himself with and she put it on her legs; she started to think. "There you go," Andy arrived with two cups of tea and gave her one. He sat next to her, and she moved a little to make him seat comfortably, and then she leaned back on him; she was snuggling into his hug, when he placed his arm around her shoulders. "Comfortable?" She hummed and nodded in response.

"I read what the last victim has been through," Sharon's voice showed notes of sadness and preoccupation.

"Lynette," Andy said her name again.

"He stabbed her, he burnt her with a knitting needle and he had tried to strangle her but didn't succeed," Andy leaned to put his mug on the table and grabbed his notes and the pen. He started to draw on an empty spot, "the signs that I saw on the photos, they weren't too big, kind of like this," he drew a small circle first. "But there was a bigger one, here," he drew another bigger circle not too distant from the other three he had drawn before.

"The knitting needle is really interesting, it's not something everyone has," Sharon noticed.

"I don't have one, and that's why I am starting to believing that **he** is actually a **she**." Andy placed a kiss on Sharon's forehead and he held it for a short while, checking her body heat and trying somehow to reassure her. From their previous conversation he understood she was afraid to have the same things done to her, and he wanted to make sure she understood he wouldn't have allowed it.

"There is also another thing that it seems weird to me," he continued.

"What is it?" Sharon had now slided with her back on his legs and laying on the couch. The arm rest was acting as a pillow to her head and Andy had grabbed the blanket to cover her entirely. She was shivering again with cold, and the fever must have started to get high again.

"The attempt to strangle her. Lynette isn't much taller than Chief Johnson, and she is…" he realized he had been talking of her at the present tense as if she was still alive. "Was. She was very thin, a man wouldn't have had any problem to do it, she couldn't be withstand against the strength of a man,"

Sharon replied with a feeble voice as she was falling asleep, "you should let them know."

"Yeah, probably."

Andy knew Sharon was right, this kind of information they could easily retrieve, but nobody but him could help them better with these little details about their latest victim. He knew he had to let Provenza know all this, but how to do it without letting everyone know he was investigating on his own?

He tried to put that thought in the back of his mind for now, he needed to sleep and both he and Sharon needed to rest comfortably in a bed. Their bodies were aching at every movement.

He gently put his arms under her back and her legs and stood up bringing Sharon in his arms; the blanket slided down from her body and he left it there, reminding himself to grab it the day after or Sharon would have gone mad with the mess. She was so predictable that he loved her even more for it.

Andy put Sharon down with delicacy and after covering her with the blanket he kissed her sweetly on the lips, "good night, _babe_."

He saw Sharon smiling. She was soft and tender, and delicate like a rare flower. He walked to his side of the bed and got under the blanket himself, sliding as closest as possible to her and wrapping his arm around her body. Andy was tired and drawn with feelings and preoccupations. The last thing he heard before falling asleep was Sharon's answer, whispered in the dark of the room, "good night, _my love_."


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

"Andy, Andy wake up," Sharon woke up with a noise from the living room.

Andy startled to her shaking, "what? What is it?"

"Did you hear that?" She was sitting on bed and watching the bedroom door. She seemed to be expecting someone to appear from it any minute now.

"Did I hear what? Sharon, there was nothing. Go back to sleep," another noise came from the same direction. "Okay, I heard that!" Andy grabbed his gun from the nightstand, "stay here!"

"Oh I don't think so," Sharon did the same. She had put it in the drawer ever since coming back home the other day with sickness, so she tried to be as quiet as possible in opening it, without making too much noise. Whoever had broke into her house didn't have to hear them.

"Okay, but stay behind me," Andy whispered walking slowly out of the room with his gun in his hands, pointed in front of him. It was dark and he could feel the air coming from the direction they were walking to.

They arrived at the couch and Andy took a deep breath before he turned quickly towards the kitchen, but nobody was there. Sharon looked to her left, in the living room, but nobody was there either, only the window on the balcony was open and it was bringing inside a lot of wind inside.

Andy turned on the lights, "probably the wind made something to fall. That's the noise we heard," he walked to the window and closed it.

"Except that wasn't open, Andy!" Sharon looked around finding all the papers and magazines had fallen everywhere and the wind had probably contributed to the mess more. "Look at this mess,"

"Sharon, it's windy. It's pretty normal." She looked frustrated but she couldn't deny the evidence; they heard a noise and went checking but no one had been found in the house. "You are sick and stressed, this situation is stressing me too," Andy put his gun down and went closer to Sharon. She was still holding hers. "Let's go back to bed, nothing happened here but the wind blowing."

"The windows were closed, Andy." She insisted.

Andy took her gun from her hands and placed it next to his on the piece of furniture, "okay, look. Maybe I didn't closed the security clip well and it opened with the wind. Sharon, nobody but us is in the house,"

"And what was that noise, then? You heard it too, papers and magazines don't make that heavy noise," she was raising her voice and he could see her crying already. Stress wasn't good for her body and being sick at the same time had made her extremely vulnerable.

"Something must have fallen," Andy started to look around. "Look," he went closer to her desk. "The photo with your kids, it's probably this the noise we heard,"

Sharon was still sobbing but tried to believe his explanations, "I am so tired, Andy." She wrapped into his hug and started crying again.

"Hey, hey it's alright, don't worry. Sharon, hey." She couldn't stop crying and it was probably all the stress and tiredness finally coming out. Sharon had always been great at keeping it together and to never show emotions or break down, but she always had her safe place, her house, where she could cry out all her tears and let go of everything.

"Okay, Sharon, now…" she held him tighter. Andy moved her arms away from his body to meet with her eyes. They were all wet and blurred, she wasn't going to speak. He wiped away the tears with his thumbs, when he took her face into his hands. His smile was somewhat reassuring to Sharon. She sobbed a feeble _thank you_ , and Andy leaned in to kiss her. "Let's go to bed, okay?" They walked through the hallway hugging each other, and giving sweet kisses, while Sharon was letting go of her latest tears.

She got under the blankets, "could you check the windows?" She wasn't sure anymore anything was secured in her own house. Andy did as she asked, she needed to be reassured, so it wasn't a problem to show her that the windows had all been closed securely. He walked to his side of the bed and climbed in it as well; her head was leaning against the head of the bed, and Andy had slid close enough to kiss her again.

"Will you hold me tight all night?" She had asked him while they fell asleep again. They were face to face, nose to nose, and some times one of them gave a kiss or two to the other.

"Come here," Andy had pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her body. He had fallen asleep but she couldn't. The minutes passing were ticking in her mind like a clock, she would open her eyes every second and look around and the noise of the wind blowing outside her windows, wasn't helping to calm her down. She had a constant sensation of being watched, spied on, it had been with her ever since the night at the movies. It had never left her.

It was in one of her thoughts that didn't let her sleep and when she was turning around in the bed, that she saw a figure standing by the door.

She startled and by first instinct she stretched to turn on the light. The figure was gone.

Andy startled too when the light was turned on, "Sharon, what's going on?" She didn't say a word. She kept looking at the door with her blurred sight, because she wasn't wearing her glasses, and thinking that her fear had tricked her mind. "Sharon," she could hear Andy being so close but it was like she was in a bubble, in which everything from the outside arrived to her senses disturbed.

"I had a nightmare," she finally said turning to him. She was sweating and gave him a fake smile to calm his preoccupation. "It was just another nightmare," she assured him again.

They slid together under the blankets and she turned off the light. Sharon was laying on her side and Andy hugged her from behind; she suppressed the sounds of her crying.

"Was I shot again in your nightmare?" Andy asked with a sleepy voice, he wasn't too far from falling asleep again.

Sharon let out of a _Yes_ , while still pushing back those tears. He would have never believed her if she had told him she saw someone standing at the door, and she wasn't even sure she had really seen anyone. She wasn't wearing her glasses and her sight was blurred because of it, and even before she heard something but they found nobody in the house.

Sharon was scared. She had lost her control and she was losing her mind to this, and with her sickness she wasn't even sure anymore what was real and what was infested by it. She needed to get better. She needed to become Sharon Raydor again.


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Andy woke up rather later than usual, he moved his arm to the right and found an empty spot. Sharon must have been up already. He rushed out of the bed and ran through the hallway to find her sitting at the table in the kitchen, reading the newspaper and eating some fruit.

"Hey there," she was smiling and she looked good.

"Hey you, when did you get up?" Andy walked to her and leaned down for a kiss.

"About 20 minutes ago, I was hungry." She smiled at him again and he wondered if she hadn't been hiding something behind all those smiles.

"Well that is good, it means you are getting better. You do look better. Is there, something you want to tell me?" Andy had walked to pour himself a cup of coffee. He was still a little bit stoned from the previous night's small heartbeating drama.

"No, what is it?"

"I don't know, you look happy and smiling,"

Sharon stood up walking to the sink to put in the empty bowl she had just eaten from, "umm, let's see. I have been eating and not feeling funny, I slept through most of the night and I have a wonderful, charming and absolutely handsome man in my life. Should I be more sad, perhaps?" She was teasing and flirting. "Good morning, Lieutenant!" Her voice was just a whisper, before she started to play with him by kissing his lips once and then twice which ended up in a real passionate kissing.

"Good morning, Captain!" Andy was still tasting the flavour of her lips. "Are you sure you are still don't have the flu?" He was surprised by her sudden change of humor from last night. She had been terrified and he felt her rolling around during the night, but now she seemed radiant and happy and sure of herself.

"Yes I still have it, but it's not high. I feel like I could even work a little, maybe, today?" She was asking as a begging request and a tiny bit of an order.

"No way, no no. Today we lay on the couch, watch movies the whole day and if I feel particularly open about it, I will let you help me cooking lunch. But we shall see how things go,"

Sharon snorted. "But I will be sitting at the desk, you can watch me from the couch, and I will just-"

"Look at my face," he pointed to his own face. "Does it look like a face that's going to say yes if you beg?"

Sharon looked at his serious face, "stupid face!"

"Hey. That's my face you are talking about. Don't offend this sexy fresh piece of meat you have in front of you," he was joking but could keep his serious face on.

Sharon snort-laughed. "Sexy? Yes. Fresh, I'm not so sure you are that fresh, honey!"

"Unbelievable," he shrugged with astonishment.

Sharon was still laughing when she started to play with his hairy chest, twirling with her fingers, "you know that if I wanted to, I could ignore your orders because I outtrank you and I am the one giving you orders, right?"

Andy stopped her playing when he took her hands in his, "I know. But that happens at work. We are at home here, and if we have to apply a rule of **higher power** in something, I win. I'm older than you," he heard her whisper a _damit_ and it made him laugh. "And because I do not trust you, you are coming with me in the shower, now!"

"That is offensive, Andy. That you don't trust me. I'm not going to work while you take a shower,"

"Yeah, yeah. Try again, babe. Shower. With me. Now!" He pointed his finger towards the hallway, just like she used to do when giving orders.

"Uhh bossy, I like it," she smirked and winked at him.

There had been a lot of flirting between them. Andy had put soap on her back and massaged it before washing it away, and he had also continued on kissing her neck from time to time. Sharon had done the same with his chest, playing with his hair and kissing his lips while soaping his body. Her most enjoyable moment had been when Andy had gone through washing her hair, and his fingers were sliding into her locks and massaging her cranium. She had felt so much more relaxed and at ease with him, that she had wished it never ended.

"Where do you think you are going princess? We have to dry your hair," Andy was shouting from the bathroom as Sharon had walked out, holding her hair in a towel.

She laughed, "just a moment. I'm checking my phone," she walked down the hallway to take her phone that she had put on charge in the kitchen. But something blocked her.

That framed picture, that same one that last night the wind had knocked down, it was laying down again. She remembered she had put it back up, because it was still vivid in her mind that when she did, seeing her children's faces had made her smile and she had run her finger through her son's face on it. It was clear in her mind, and she hadn't imagined it.

Sharon put down the frame and quickly walked to the windows. She checked twice if they were closed, it was scaring her again.

"Hey, what's up?" Andy entered the room wearing only a towel around his hips and drying his hair with another one.

Sharon had her back to him. She sucked it up inside and breathed before she turned, "nothing." She smiled. "I wanted to see what the weather is like," then she moved to the counter to check on her phone as she had told him she was going to do. No calls or messages. "Let's go drying my hair, shall we?"

Andy found the tone of her voice very weird. She had high notes and she seemed nervous. He also noticed that when she was walking towards the bathroom, she had taken the picture of her children and placed it on the library in the hallway.

Sharon was incredibly silent and Andy thought she was enjoying the drying, but her eyes were wandering in the emptiness of the mirror. She saw their reflection in it and sighed. "What have you been thinking about, Sharon?" Andy was brushing her hair.

"About last night,"

"Oh Sharon, don-"

"No, it's. I was thinking that maybe I am truly imagining everything. I have been so stressed, and so sick, that I'm not even enjoying you being here and your _chivalry_ on wanting to protect me," she smiled at him through the mirror. "This is my house, they cannot jump onto the balcony at the 16th floor and enter it."

"Exactly," Andy leaned down and kissed her. "It's normal to be stressed with this whole situation, your sickness didn't help. But thankfully that's passing and we will go back to being just us and happy and everything else."

They walked out of the bathroom and Sharon clung her hand to Andy's. He looked at that simple gesture and smiled at her, "I'm not letting you working anyway, you know right?"

"Ohh," Sharon fumed and let go of his hand and it was very amusing to Andy. "Fine," she stopped in front of the sofa and folded her arms, "I'll sit here and not move, not breath, not do anything at all." She let go of her body on the sofa and Andy started snort-laughing. She really looked like a crybaby.

Andy walked to the kitchen, "I am just going to call Provenza for a moment, and then I will be right there with you," he wandered around the kitchen for a small while. "Umm, weird."

"What?" Sharon asked from the couch while she was turning on her tv.

"I can't find my cellphone,"

"Oh it's here," she grabbed it from the coffee table and started to flash it in her hand.

"I was sure I had left it next to yours," he walked towards her and grabbed it from her hand.

"I told you we have ghosts in this house, you say it's my fever," she joked.

"Yeah, the paranormal is the only thing we need to add to our lives and then it's complete of all the weirdness possible," Andy scrolled through his latest calls to find his partner's name, but he was still a little confused about what had just happened.

Sharon started zapping on the tv, that was showing nothing interesting to her likes and she turned it off deciding to try and read something instead. She walked to the library and as she stood up after grabbing a book she saw something that scared her. She stretched her neck over the wall, to have a peek on her desk and she found her framed picture standing there. She had moved it to the library to prove that she wasn't dreaming. Andy had seen her doing it, they had been showering together and the picture was now back to its original place.

There was no doubt anymore, somebody had entered her house.


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Andy was still on the phone with his partner when Sharon ran to him and wrapped her arms around him crying. "I'll call you back," he hung up with Provenza. "Hey Sharon, what's going on?"

"There is someone Andy, someone entered my house. I know it now," she was sobbing and crying. She looked him in the eyes and she could see he didn't believe her.

"Sharon, we talked about that already, you know it cannot be possible," he tried to reassure her and held her tight in his arms. She was shaking.

Nonetheless, Sharon was determined to prove she was right. She grabbed his hand and walked him in front of the library, "Look you saw me moving the picture here and…" the picture was standing on the library. Sharon started to hyperventilate and she was shaking even more, everything was becoming too confusing in her mind and she couldn't understand how it was possible. She had just seen the picture on the desk and she hadn't moved it from there before running to Andy, but then the picture was standing on the library.

Sharon grabbed the picture and threw it in the hallway shouting, "Get out!" She fell down onto her knees on the floor and Andy leaned down to hug her and comfort her. She was still crying when she tried to reach for the frame she had smashed against the floor, "I am so tired, Andy. I can't!"

Andy sat down on the floor and pulled her closer as he leaned on his back against the wall, "I'm so sorry Sharon. If it wasn't for me you-"

"It's not your fault." Sharon held the frame closer to her heart, she was in pieces like the glass on the floor, she was broken and couldn't put back together the pieces of her soul. "I fell in love with you too," Sharon let go of a breath and her last tear fell from her eye, "we made a mistake being together!"

It hurted Andy to hear this. She considered their _love story_ a mistake and it hurted him. But he couldn't blame her, how could he? It had all been ups and downs and for once they had settled, then he had brought in drama with his past.

Andy stood up, "I need to make a phone call." Sharon didn't move, still holding her frame; she looked at him walking away without letting out of a breath or a sigh. She stayed still.

"Okay, thank you!" Andy hung up and walked again next to Sharon. "What do you say about getting up and going to bed? You need some rest. Your body is still not 100% healed and strong," he helped her up.

"Oh my God, Andy!" Sharon seemed like coming out of a trance. "I'm so sorry, I said… I said a terrible thing before," she put down the photo on the library and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I didn't mean it, I didn't…"

Andy took her face in his hands and kissed her, "I believe you!" He whispered it but she heard it. Her eyes opened wide and finally she saw hope again, that she wasn't going mad and that he, at least one person, believed her. "And I think there's a lot more behind," he was still whispering and Sharon couldn't understand why. He spoke into her ear _I think we are being spied on_ , he had said and she froze at his words. She could not believe that was possible, that it had gone that far. But it may have explained a lot of things. _I called Agent Howard and he will come here_ , he continued whispering into her ear. "So now I want you to go to bed and take a nap, I will make lunch and wake you up when it's time," Andy smiled at her as they entered the bedroom, and Sharon was looking surprised and disbelieving. She thought she had gone mad and for all this time he had had his own ideas on what was happening; he helped her into the bed and sat next to her when she was all set. "Close your eyes, get some rest. I will be in the kitchen, shout if you need me."

Sharon gripped his arm as he was standing up, "don't leave me!" She was scared, now that it was clear that they had been spied on, she was scared that something was going to happen. "Stay here with me," Sharon pulled Andy down with her under the blankets, she took off his t-shirt and started kissing him passionately.

"Sharon, you don't have to make up for anything, you know right?" Andy was laying next to her and caressing her hair.

"I was a monster before, Andy!" She stretched her neck to reach his lips.

"Somehow you were not wrong," Sharon looked at him puzzled. He took a deep breath, "if we hadn't fallen in love you wouldn't be in danger. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you," he kissed her too. The smack of their kiss echoed in the room. "We should have never fallen in love with each other," Andy smiled at her, "but I'm glad we did!"

"So am I," her whispering voice was so sexy that it made him smile naughty and he started kissing her passionately. "Andy," they parted for a few seconds. "I am hungry,"

"I just put you to bed,"

"I don't want to sleep, daddy!"

Andy sighed, "please Sharon. Don't say _daddy_ with that tone. You turn me on," Sharon snort-laughed. "And it's gone. Okay, let's go make lunch and getting you something to eat. This parenting thing is stressful!" He grabbed his shirt from the bed and wore it again; Sharon clasped her fingers with his.

She had a look around, she didn't even know what she was looking for, but she was scared. And at the same time she felt protected by him, and he always managed to calm her down and make her laugh. "Single parenting, but what do I know about it?" She joked with him and they walked out the room.

When they arrived to the kitchen, Sharon sat down at the table as per Andy's orders and she waited for him to make her a sandwich. She put her chin on her hand and heard him saying all the ingridients he was using for it, "the bread, where is it. Ah found! Salad, a tomato sliced fine," he sliced the tomato and put it on the leaf of salad, "and then the turkey," he closed the sandwich and brought it to her served on a plate with a napkin under it. "Voilà, you are served," Sharon smiled and thanked him and started eating. She had been so hungry that she devoured it all in a few minutes, "I was so hungry." She said to Andy when she returned the empty plate to him.

"I see, you want more?" He walked back behind the counters.

"No thank you, I wouldn't want to exaggerate. What are you cooking? Can I help you?"

"Of course, if you feel like you could squeeze these lemons for me please," he placed on the counter a lemon squeezer. "And then, you could please squeeze the tuna and put it in this bowl, where we will mix it with the mayo and then add the lemon juice,"

Sharon followed all his instructions by the book, and soon she had prepared a tuna mousse, good to go with a second course. "Andy why are you cooking all these things?" Sharon turned around the counter and saw all he was cooking.

"We have guests coming over for lunch,"

"What? Guests, Andy are you crazy? You shouldn't even be here, it's totally inappropriate and-"

"It's Chief Johson and her husband,"

"Oh, them!" She breathed, "I thought you went all crazy and decided to tell everyone we are dating,"

"Ah! So we are dating?" He asked.

"Why do you ask? We even did, you know…" Andy started laughing. Looking at Sharon trying to explain the word _sex_ was probably the funniest thing he had ever seen in his life.

"Showered together?" He asked teasing.

"Andy, you know."

"Oh you mean when we sat down the floor and you snuggled into my hug?" It was rather amusing to him.

"You will not give me a break, will you?" Sharon had folded her arms and was looking at him with an annoyed look. Andy nodded and then grinned. "Fine! We did even sleep together, happy now?"

Andy nodded again satisfied, "very! Of course not as much as I am when I make love to you, though." He leaned and kissed her.

He moved to the stoves and started to add all the ingredients for his sauce. After he added the onion and the carrotts he had previously chopped, Sharon hugged him from behind and Andy stroke her arm with his hand, while with the other he was busy stirring the sauce. "Do you think Agent Howard can help us?"

"He's the FBI, and weren't you the one to love him?" He remained seriously focused on what he was doing, but Sharon felt a little note of sarcasm and jealousy in his tone.

"I never said I loved him, I said I like him. He's charming and a nice man to work with, and-" suddenly she heard a noise. She approached him whispering, "did you hear that?" Andy nodded. "What was it?"

Sharon was hiding behind him, she didn't even realized she had moved to his side, "I'm trying to prove a theory."

Andy remained still, doing his thing very calmly, while Sharon was shaking next to him. She didn't have her gun with her or any kind of weapon, she only had Andy standing in front of her for protection. "Everything will be fine, don't worry!" He was still calm but whispering. "Could you pass me the salt?"

Sharon looked at him with a questioning and astonished look. In all this madness, he was cooking. She passed him the salt as he had asked and then they heard a soft noise from the entrance door. Andy cleaned his hands and walked to the library. Sharon followed him looking around.

Andy walked closer to her with his phone in his hands, "Here." He showed her a video, "they always make a mistake."

When he had called Agent Howard on the phone, he had told him they needed a proof to their theory, and when Sharon had stood up and put the frame back on the library, Andy had got the idea to place his phone recording the entrance door. There was no other way they could have entered if not the entrance door, and because he and Sharon had been in the hallway for the whole time, they had to be hiding in the guest room.

"I will send this to Tao and he may be able to work some of his magic with the computer," Andy had got their intruder recorded on camera.


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Sharon was still shaken and scared that an intruder had come into her house and had been recorded on video. She had told Andy she wanted to immediately move out, but he had asked her to wait for Agent Howard to arrive and then he promised they would have moved to his house.

They had both searched around the house for anything missing, but everything was in its right place, and after searching through all the drawers and rooms of the house, and checking any window they both arrived to the conclusion that their intruder had to have a copy of the key. The locks of the entrance door hadn't been forced, and there wasn't any other solution to explain it.

"How is it possible, Andy?" Sharon was visibly shaken.

"I don't know. I really don't know. But I called a locksmith already to change the locks," he hugged her. He couldn't deny he was getting scared as well, surely recording the intruder was a successful move and it gave them something to work on, but he had to admit to himself that they had been too close to him or her, and especially Sharon. "Babe, I promise you that everything will get sorted. You think you can smile for me just once?" He lifted up her chin with his finger. Sharon smiled but it vanished right away, she was too nervous to simply let it go for a while.

She wrapped into his hug again, "I am scared among the walls of my house, this should never happen to anyone!" She whispered but he heard it and he knew it wasn't an accusation against him, but it hit him pretty hard because he felt it like it was his fault.

Andy just nodded. "Okay the lunch has been cooked, what do you say about getting dressed and possibly clean a little bit here?" The glasses of the frame where still on the floor, and they had been smashed even more by the intruder walking over them on the way out.

He could read the fear in Sharon's eyes, and in her agitation he felt all the anger she had for feeling so weak and needy from him. He hadn't minded doing the cooking, taking care of her during her sickness and he wasn't now, following her around the house, because he knew she would fear anything happening any minute she was alone in a room.

Sharon was trying to be stronger, she was trying to be less scared and remembering she was a police officer, she could defend herself. But her house had always been her secured blockhouse, the safe place she used to run to when things were getting complicated. During all these years, she had feared many times the consequences of Jack's bad behavior; she would expect an usurer to knock at her door pretending the money he had borrowed, or an unhappy client that he had represented. Some times she also had expected a new family to appear at her door, some illegitimate child to show up. Nothing of this had happened, but now it was. Now all her fears were coming, all together, like a slap on her face. And she hadn't want to hate on Andy for this, in her heart she didn't; it was her she was condemning for letting herself get involved with him. She was regretting, after all this time, to have given love a second chance.

Nonetheless, every time she saw him, a smile spread from the corners of her mouth, "I love you," she said whispering before she kissed him.

"Me too," Andy was sitting on the bed while Sharon was trying to decide what to wear. "I love you too, and I am so sorry!" He stood up and walked towards her, Sharon was standing in front of the mirror and trying outfits. He slid his arms around her waist, "I like the purple shirt", he kissed her neck, "but you look gorgeous in the white one as well!"

Sharon put away the white shirt and took the purple one from the hanger, "if my man likes the purple I shall wear the purple," she smiled in the mirror for him and he smiled back at her and kissed her naked shoulder.

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

"Chief, Agent Howard, please come in," when Agent Howard and Chief Johnson arrived, the locksmith was changing the door locks and Sharon was cleaning out the glass frames from the floor. "Andy," Sharon gave him a shout. He was setting up the table and finishing warming a few things more on the stoves.

"Hello, welcome to… well her house," he smiled while putting a hand on Sharon's back.

"These are for you," they gave her a bouquet of flowers. "I hope you are feeling better now, Captain."

Sharon took the flowers from Agent Howard's hands and smiled brightly, "oh my. They are beautiful, thank you." She walked to take a vase and put some water into it. "I am feeling much better already, thank you. I'm ready to go back to work, tomorrow!"

"Oh wonderful!" The tone of Chief Johnson reply amused her. Sharon bet she breathed happily these past three days she had been off; she knew she wasn't her favorite person to deal with.

After the locksmith had finished and they had paid him, they started to sit and eat. Conversation was focused on the current situation that Andy and Sharon were dealing with, and Andy was able to fill in a few details to Chief Johnson that she could have used for the case. On her part, after previously been asked and forced by her husband, Chief Johnson had shared with them a few more pieces of information they had found and had also agreed to stay alone for a few moments with Sharon, and do some casual talk, while he discussed it more in private with Andy.

"The boys are going to talk a little bit, so we have some time for us, Sharon!" She smiled at her and it made Sharon questioning what her intentions were.

"I guess so, although I would really like to hear what your husband has to say," she had replied and tried to stand up but Chief Johnson had stopped her.

"Sharon, give them a few minutes. You and I can do some girl talks,"

"Okay, Brenda!" She was still puzzled at what was going on and at Brenda calling her by first name, but she played along with the game. "Do you prefer talking about the drapes, the weather or how I decided to start a sexual relationship with a collegue?" She sipped from her coffee cup and looked at her amused.

"Well, Sharon. Since you brought up the subject I'd rather discuss your last point," Brenda tried to imitate her previous expression.

"I cannot tell you how. Or when. But a while ago we were on a blind date and it started all from there,"

"Wait, wait. While ago? You mean like years?" Brenda was surprised to learn how long they had been dating and hiding it.

Sharon didn't want to provide too many details, and with one eye, she always kept a look at Andy who was standing out of the balcony. She explained to Brenda about their date, how pleasant it had been and surprising to herself, how much Andy had been nice to her. And then from there she went describing their friendship growing, and how they started supporting and helping each other, and then one thing lead to another and they ended up sharing more than just a good friendship.

Brenda was surprised. The Sharon Raydor she knew was hated by pretty much everyone she ran into, and she remembered all the tension that was between her and Andy before; but maybe that tensione had to be the first clear sign of something more happening, and at some point Andy had started to be more defensive and appreciative of her presence, even if she was reprimanding him.

"I thought you were married?" Brenda asked and the question brought a shadow of seriousness, and maybe also a bit of sadness, on their conversation.

"Yes," Sharon put down her empty cup. "And I still am. But my husband and I have been estranged for a very long time, and actually legally separated for two decades. Andy knows it, and he doesn't seem to care. He says that he wants to be with me, whatever the situation is,"

"And you are okay with it as well?" They had never been friends, and Sharon was quite sure that Brenda really hated her, but ever since they had sat down to have lunch she had seemed more willingly to talk and share. Sharon was confused but she enjoyed it. She had never a real female friend, ever since separating from Jack, their friends were his friends and their wives, and she just talked to them when they met. Once Jack was gone, so were all his friends, and by then Sharon had a very busy life between work and raising her kids, she had no time to make friends.

"I learnt to be," Sharon decided to answer her but she wasn't ready to open completely with her. She did that only with her church's priest in a confessional, "my husband is not going to come back and even if he was, I am not sure I would let him in again. Our marriage ended a long time ago, and he hasn't been the greatest of husband-"

"I know something about that," Brenda remembered her marriage to her first husband and how he was abusive towards her.

"I am sure I haven't been a good wife, either. But what I have with Andy is different, more intense and," Sharon stretched to see if the men were still standing on the balcony. "Sometimes I think I am dreaming all of it, I am not sure I deserve his attentions and care!"

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

"Fritz, I will be honest with you. This is the first time I regret my past," they were both standing with their hands in their pockets and watching the sky over the line of the balcony wall. "If I had been a better man, Sharon wouldn't have a problem now!"

Andy sincerely regretted having dated women with so much easiness, and as it had become more clear that it was all turning around him and his love life, he was sure that he had pissed off a woman who was now taking a revenge on him.

"I have the same regret about drinking," Fritz said and Andy snorted thinking they had something in common. "It ruined my life and my first marriage. But if I hadn't gone through all of that I wouldn't be with Brenda now, it's a small part of my life I have to live with for being with my wife,"

"I know Sharon regrets being with me. But it's okay, I don't blame her. She was living a better life before I entered it," Andy had taken a seat and Fritz had done the same. Andy leaned on the table and started whispering, even if the doors were closed and they couldn't hear what he was saying. "I found a web camera into Sharon's bedroom," he leaned back on his chair. "It was hidden in a soft toy, and I haven't got that to Sharon. This makes me think that someone entered here long before these things started, they placed it. Sharon says it's a toy her kid got for her for one of her birthdays, she keeps it on the piece of furniture in front of the bed,"

"Did you take it off? Did you tell Sharon?" Fritz was asking questions.

"I threw it away, and no I didn't tell Sharon anything. I found it only this morning and I didn't want to put more pressure on her," Andy scratched the back of his head, "but she will notice that toy is missing and ask questions. She is so scared by all this, I can tell. And if anything happened to her, I-"

"Andy. I can understand, we will do our best to avoid it, but it may take a little while longer before we get something, show me this video," Andy pulled the cellphone out of his pocket and played the video for Fritz. He nodded watching it. "Okay, send me this video. We will analyze the frames and probably we will be able to get a decent frame or match with anyone, nice job Andy!"

When Fritz gave Andy his phone back, an alarm started ringing. "It's time for Sharon's vitamins," he smiled while standing and entering the room again, "time for pills!" He announced walking by the women, who were still sitting at the table and talking.

"Can you believe it? I have a nurse now," Sharon joked with Brenda and both women laughed.

Fritz went closer to Brenda and showed her his watch, pointing out they were running late and they both had to go back to work.

"Sharon, it was good to see you and hopefully will meet soon," Fritz greeted Sharon and shook Andy's hand. "Andy, we'll be in touch."

"Well, then see you tomorrow at work, Sharon." Brenda smiled at her.

"For sure, Brenda." Sharon hugged her, "thank you for the good talk." She smiled at her and waved goodbye.

"So," when they closed the door Andy finally had a moment to kiss Sharon. "You made a new friend?" He joked with her. Sharon slapped his arm and walked to the kitchen.

"It was a nice talk, but she's hard to talk with even when it's not work related," they both laughed. Sharon and Brenda had discussed her current love interest with Andy and then Sharon had brought up the subject of her return to work. Andy had been dismissed from the case, because he was personally involved, and Sharon had to not take active part into it as well, but she still had to _monitor_ on Major Crimes division because of the leak, and after months spent on this case, putting anyone to her place was going to be a waste of time and money and it had to start all over. So Sharon had tried to find an escamotage for Andy to participate without officially being involved.

"Sharon Raydor makes the rules, Sharon Raydor breaks them," Andy had joked.

"Actually, I am not breaking any rule. You have been assigned to my private care, and I am being assigned to Major Crimes babysitting, so you **have to** stay where I am, and that happens to be your division, it's as simple as that," she finished.

"I love your evil mind," he grinned at her and leaned to kiss her.

"Now, can we please leave this house?" Andy had hoped Sharon would have forgotten about it, but she never forgot a thing.

They stuffed a few of her clothes into a bag and Andy packed up his stuff into his. Walking by the library, Sharon saw the picture with a broken frame and grabbed it. She pushed it against her chest and closed her eyes; she had raised her kids in that house, and they learnt to walk and speak in it. It was filled with wonderful memories, and terrible ones about her fights with Jack and his numerous abandonments, but she had always managed to wipe away the bad ones and fill in with more happy memories. This time it was so hard, and she didn't know if she was going to ever be able to do it again.

Sharon walked to the door, where Andy was waiting for her, with the frame in her hands; she was bringing it with her. He opened the door and walked out and kept it open for her to come out. Sharon turned to her empy house, watching the darkness falling onto it, like an evil spell had just been casted and was taking all the light and brightness of her paintings, and her pieces of furniture, and the vibrant coloring she had picked for it. But she couldn't stay any longer into that place, that now seemed to her more like somewhere she never belonged to, than her beloved house.

She sighed with anxiety and let go of a deep breath, it was time to leave.


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Sharon was observing the town passing her by from the car on the street, the sun was still shining high in the sky and it reflected on the windows of the buildings. Sometimes it blinded her. She was silent and still in her seat, holding to her heart the frame of her children.

"We are out of there, Sharon. You can relax now," Andy was trying to talk to her. He received a noise of agreement from her. "It seems like a good day, we could have dinner outside in the backyard," another noise. "And we have the rest of the day for us," still no answer just noises. "Frog, guitar, lemon."

Sharon gave him another noise, before she questioned his latest sentence "Wait, what?"

"Ohh, she was listening and she can speak. Great!" Andy put his right hand on her leg, "I know you are sad we left your place, but you will be back there as soon as this mess is solved,"

"I am just tired, Andy." She squeezed his hand, "nothing that a hot bath can't fix," she had tried smiling but it died on her face quickly. A hot bath wasn't going to put peace in her heart, it wasn't going to calm her nerves and it wasn't going to make her feel secure and not in danger constantly. It was only going to wash her away her current stress to leave space on her body for other incoming.

She returned to her silence until they arrived at Andy's place.

"Don't worry about the luggage, go inside and have your hot bath, I'll get this stuff inside myself," he had just climbed out of the car when a voice called him.

A woman ran towards them. She was small, shorter than Sharon and very thin; she had blonde hair and was waving happily to see Andy. Sharon learnt that moment Andy had a pretty neighbour. "Welcome back, you disappeared for days," she was smiling and a bit short of breath for the run of before.

"Yeah I was, ehm, busy with work let's say," Andy put down a bag. "This is my girlfriend, Sharon. Sharon this is my neighbour, Beth. She takes care of the house when I'm away," he smiled at her.

"Oh it's my pleasure to help this handsome man," she laughed and turned to Sharon. "Nice to meet you," she offered her hand to shake. Sharon reluctanctly shook it and tried to smile.

"Nice to meet you too. Yes, my Andy is very handsome," it wasn't jealousy, but stressing that 'my' was a sort of marking her territory.

Andy was smiling puffed up.

"This is your post," Beth handled him three letters. "I gave water to your plants, and cleaned your backyard. Andy you stuff a lot of useless things, you should do some cleaning in there. And in your garage,"

"You have been into the garage?" Sharon was sincerely shocked. She understood that Andy had given her a second key to take care of his plants, because he was obsessed more than her with gardening, it was therapeutic he had told her, but entering also the garage felt like a violation. Andy didn't seem as disturbed as Sharon by this, though.

"Yeah, I needed a key." Beth turned to Andy, "my sink has problems again, so I thought to borrow one of your keys and Andy I must admit, that car is gorgeous!"

Andy was very proud of that car and his grin was expressing it all. He looked at Sharon who was getting nervous about standing there in the middle of the street, "hey Beth. We will get these things inside and then I will come over and take a look at that sink, okay?" They started walking towards his house.

"Oh you don't have to, Andy!" Beth was trying to persuade him.

"With all you do for me all the time, it's the least that I can do for you. Thank you!" He was already at the door of his house and Beth was at hers. Sharon was just right behind Andy and she could swear that Beth looked at him smiling and the moment he entered and she looked at her, the woman next door gave her a hate look that sent shivers to her spine.

Sharon entered the house too, "very peculiar woman that Beth." She stopped at the entrance, putting down her bag and looking around herself.

"Yeah she's fantastic," he put down the bags. "What are you doing standing there?"

"I don't know where to go. This is not my place,"

"Well, while you pick your spot," Andy went closer and wrapped his arms around her. "In my arms seems a pretty good place to start finding yours," he leaned in and they started kissing. "Are you feeling better?" He was whispering, like their mouths were talking alone without the brains to do as well.

Sharon nodded, "yes. Much better. Things don't move around, just a weird neighbour who's incredibly infatuated to my handsome man," she parted from his hug and started to walk around in exploration.

"Oh she's not. She's married you know?" Andy grabbed the bags he had put down before and walked to the bedroom. Sharon was following him.

"Really? Like I am married, or married married?"

"Like her husband is in prison for a robbery and a homicide," he put both bags on a table and opened them. He started to unfold the clothes and hang them into the wardrobe. "Which side of the bed do you want?"

Sharon walked to the right and placed her frame on the nightstand next to the bed, "this one is perfect. Very far from the door,"

"But very close to the window," Andy pointed out sarcastically.

"Umm, you're right. Can I sleep in the wardrobe instead?" Andy looked at her with a bored look and she moved close to the window, checking it was securely closed. In that moment, Beth appeared from it waving and smiling, and she made Sharon startle. She pointed to go to the door and open it for her, "she is… so peculiar!" Sharon said trying to catch her breath again.

Andy laughed while walking to the front door, "hey Beth!"

"I am sorry I scared you Sharlene,"

"It's Sharon," she replied irritated. Her name had been said very clearly, she was saying it wrong to irritate her.

"Oops, I baked some muffins before and I made too many so I thought you may want some," she was smiling and holding a plate with muffins, at which Andy was looking with his eyes wide open.

Beth gave Sharon the plate, "thank you, Beth! What a sweet gesture this was," she smiled at her and so did Beth. It was going to be a very complicated relationship between them.

It was clear to Sharon that Beth wasn't mourning her husband's departure that much, her eyes were planted on Andy. But he had refused to believe her allegations, he thought Sharon was just jealous; surely Beth had been nice to him and caring, but she was just his neighbour, and she had been for a long time now.

"I told you she's nice," when Beth left they started to undo the bags again.

"Yeah, very nice. Are we sure these aren't poisoned?"

"What?" Andy walked to the table and grabbed one. He gave it a huge bite and started swallowing it. "See, they're not poisoned," he told her with his mouth full.

"Yes, I see." Sharon cleaned her face from his spitting. "She is just…"

"Peculiar?" Andy had finished eating and was pouring himself some water.

"Yes, and always in the way. We are here since half an hour and I have seen her twice already," Sharon joined him. "I don't trust her fully, she is… invasive and, she is a woman."

"Acute observation, you're an incredible detective," Andy was mocking her.

"Andy don't play with me, I'm serious. You heard Chief Johnson, everyone is convinced now a 100 percent that it's a woman, and she is one and she likes you a lot," Sharon was insisting on this thing and Andy kept denying it. He said that she was just being extremely helpful and that it had always been so, even when her husband was not in prison. "You know, sometimes a woman loves more than a man. **Or** she thinks she loves another and gets obsessed with him," Andy walked quickly towards her and he pulled her into his arms and kissed passionately. "What is this for?"

"Because I love you even more when you act jealous of other women," he kissed her again. Sharon gave up on trying to convince him listening to her and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him passionately too. "I thought we talked about a hot bath in the car?" He was whispering with a naughty look on his face. Sharon smiled at him naughtly too and nodded. She did really need that bath and if he was going to take it with her, it was going to be just perfect.

"Andy, this bubble-bath is just perfect, thank you!" Sharon was playing with the bubbles while smiling. She was indeed relaxing; her back was leaning against Andy's chest, who was sitting right behind her and hugging her from behind. He was smiling seeing her playing like a kid.

"We both needed to relax and-" he was interrupted by Beth's voice calling.

"Andy, I tried knocking but you didn't come to the door, so I used my keys. I have dinner for you," they heard her from the bathroom and Sharon was getting furious at him and saying not to go to her, but Andy had already come out the bath and put a towel around him.

"Beth, I am sorry we were-"

"Oh, you were showering. That would explain why you didn't come to the door." She put down the pizza containers and smiled at him. She was so naturally acting, like this happened on a regular basis.

"Beth, it's not the right moment," Andy raised his voice. He hadn't wanted to but he was starting to see what Sharon was talking about. She had never done this before and he could only think it was because she had just met Sharon. "I'm sorry Beth, I didn't want to raise my voice with you. Look, Sharon and I are having some pretty intense days and we are both really stressed," he was holding the towel around his hips and drops of water were falling from his chest.

"I am really sorry, Andy. I was really too invasive. Please apologize to Sharlene for me,"

"Sharon, her name is Sharon." Andy corrected her.

Beth laughed out loud, "who knows why I keep saying it wrong. Sorry!" She walked to the door but Andy called her. He asked her for his keys back; he didn't want to sound rude but it would have been better if Sharon knew she didn't have access to the house 24/7. Beth looked at him astonished and placed the keys on the small table at the entrance with a heavy noise, she left pissed off.

"Is she gone?" Sharon appeared from the door of the bathroom in a towel.

"Yep! And she's also very pissed, but hey. She left dinner," Andy opened one of the boxes and grabbed a slice of pizza. He walked to Sharon and offered her a bite, which she took. "This is like my dream," Sharon looked at him puzzled. "You and me naked and pizza."

"You want me to leave you two alone, so you can make love?" She walked to the table and grabbed a slice herself.

"Pizza was just asking me the same about you and I said yes," he grinned at her.

"You got the keys back?" Andy nodded. "And all windows and doors are closed?" He nodded again. "Then I don't see why I shouldn't have a bite of you," Sharon walked past him and 'accidentally' let her towel slide down.

Andy didn't say a word and just followed her. When he arrived at the door of the bedroom he expected her to be laying on the bed, but she wasn't there; he looked around and he couldn't find her. Andy walked inside, now more worried than curious, and finally he found her, standing at the door of the wardrobe and wearing one of his ties. Only one of his ties.

"That is private property," he said to her.

"Oh," Sharon bit her bottom lip, "did I commit a felony, officer?"

Andy stayed there breathless for a few minutes, "I don't know what the game is but I love it." Sharon gestured him to play his part. "Okay, yes. That's a crime and I am afraid I will have to arrest you for it," Sharon stretched her arms in front of her and showed him her wrists to handcuff. "Although," Andy took time and got closer to her, "we could arrange something!"

Sharon looked shocked, "are you a corrupted cop?"

Andy thought for a while to the answer, "well it depends. Are you going to try and corrupt me with your body?"

Sharon walked out of the wardrobe, "well normally I wouldn't. But you are so cute that I may change my mind and…" Andy didn't even give her the time to finish her game, but she took her in his arms and they went on the bed. He started kissing her everywhere and tried to get rid of his towel. Sharon was laughing, "Andy, Andy calm down, I'm not going anywhere," she kissed his forehead sweetly.

They had made love and finally Sharon was feeling a lot more relaxed than she had in the past week. For those moments of passion with Andy, she had forgotten completely all the drama and preoccupations, and tensions and scares she had before.

They had also stood up and eaten that pizza, and then they went to bed again. "Do we really have to go to work tomorrow?" Andy was hugging Sharon, who was playing with his hairy chest and her fingers were sliding on it.

"Yes, we do!" She held her grip around his waist better. Night had arrived, and Andy had to reluctanctly stop kissing her and go to bed instead. Sharon slid down the blankets and hugged him again, "I am glad you are coming to work with me tomorrow,"

"Yeah, but I cannot kiss you there, and this is a torture," he kissed her forehead.

Sharon snort-laughed, but it was soft and almost whispered. She was finally falling to sleep and Andy hoped for one night at least, she would have had a peaceful sleeping and dreams, she really need it. "Goodnight, Andy!"

"Goodnight, Sharon! Sleep tight," he hugged her and let his body relax and rest. He had needed it too.


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

After trouble waking up and hurrying for a shower, Sharon and Andy were on their way to work. They had met Beth once again, she seemed to have been waiting for them to walk out the door, to jump on Andy again, and she hadn't seemed to be mad anymore about the night before. This thing was pleasant to Andy, he hadn't wanted to argue with his neighbour, but very suspicious to Sharon. If nothing else, this Beth seemed a little crazy and Sharon wanted to stay away from crazy people the most possible.

"Nervous to be back?" They were standing in the elevator and Sharon was silent and she looked nervous. Andy had offered to bring her back but she had refused, saying that they didn't have to raise doubts about their relationship: he was only there for her private care, and nothing more.

Andy exited the elevator with his sun glasses on and miming a gun with his hands, he looked at his left and his right, "clear!"

Sharon stepped out of the elevator, with her bag in one hand and her trench coat on the other arm. "You are an idiot sometimes," she turned off his amusement.

"Well, true," he took off his sunglasses and got close to her while they were walking, "but I think it's what made you fall for me, isn't it?" He whispered at her and the smirk on his face was making her annoyed.

"Shut up, and open the door," they had arrived at the glass door of the Major Crimes division. Andy opened it for Sharon and she took in a deep breath before she walked through it. "Goodmorning everyone!" She walked in her high heels, confident and straight to Andy's desk.

"Goodmorning Captain and, Flynn? What the hell are you doing here?" Provenza welcomed Sharon and was sending away his partner. "Get out before the Chief arrives and sees you,"

"Goodmorning everyone," Chief Johnson had just arrived.

"Too late," Provenza whispered and motioned him to move away. "Stay behind me."

"Relax! She's aware of my presence," Andy spoke to everyone. "Listen everyone, I am not here to work with you but as private care for the Captain."

"Private care, huh?" Tao was as surprised as everyone else.

"It was either this or directing you in the traffic and I don't want to see your faces as first thing in the morning," he pointed to Sharon with his head. "Her face is a lot prettier than all of yours,"

Julio raised his hands to ask a question, "how do you arrange the night watching, sir?"

"He sleeps on the floor and I give him two bowls, one for food and one for water, can we focus on working, please?" Sharon interfered into the discussion, visibly irritated by her collegues' curiosity and especially by Andy filling in the details as they asked. She had been clear he didn't have to say anything more than his current and temporary job situation.

The morning passed pretty quickly, with Sharon getting updated from her replacement about these past three days, and Andy sitting around bored and playing cards on his phone. They had moved to Taylor's space and from time to time, when he heard a theory from the other side of the wall, Andy had cleared his voice to make them understand it was not the right way to go to.

"Captain, can you take him away for a walk?" Provenza had headed from the wall and begged Sharon to get Andy away from there. His throat clearing was irritating him a lot.

Sharon had pushed him out of the murder room for some fresh air, "Andy you need to stop. You are not supposed to take part to the investigation,"

"I know. But it's hard not to," Andy scratched the back of his head. He knew he had no approval to take part into the case, but it was so hard because he could really help them, if not for what he knew about the victims, for his experience in the police.

"You will stay home tomorrow,"

"No way, Sharon! I'm not leaving you. No, no. Forget about it!"Andy stepped closer to her and she took a step back.

"Andy, you are too close. We can't!" She said it but she went against her own words. Sharon walked a step forward again, and then another and she was close to his lips. She had wanted to bite them, but she only kissed him quickly. Andy smiled.

"Umm, Ma'am." Julio appeared and Sharon immediately regretted her decision. "Chief Johnson wants to see you,"

"Julio," Andy stopped him before he could leave. "You didn't see anything," he wasn't asking he was ordering.

"Like you weren't kissing the Captain on the lips?" He repeated all he had seen.

"Yes, you didn't see anything, _Detective_!" Sharon joined them and took Julio's arm on the opposite side of Andy.

"But I saw it, Ma'am!"

"No Julio, you don't get it. You didn't." Andy stopped in front of him. "Okay, look. Yes the Captain and I kissed, and yes we are a little bit more intimate than it normally is around here, but you don't know anything about it," he warned him with a finger against his face.

"So you want me to lie?" Julio was confused.

"No, we would appreciate though if you could leave out this tiny detail," Julio was trying to speak but Sharon blocked him before he could, "otherwise tomorrow we will sit down and discuss that rage problem you had last month and that your Chief in command managed to let it slip."

Julio looked at both of them, "yes, Ma'am!"

They let him go and Sharon started breathing again, "this doesn't ever have to happen again!"

"Yes, Ma'am. Anything you say, Ma'am!" Andy agreed though that they were running a high risk, they needed to resist. They must show some strength and resist. He repeated it into his head a few times because it was necessary to.

He was still repeating it to himself an hour later, when he entered the ladies room with Sharon, kissing her passionately. He had made an "out of order" signal that he put on the door and locked it from the inside.

"This is so wrong, this can't happen!" Sharon continued saying it while his lips were tracing a path of kisses all over her body. They didn't have too much time, he couldn't flirt with her and there was no time for any foreplay. Sharon kept on saying they should have stopped, but Andy couldn't, and as much as he had tried to resist her, he didn't manage to.

"Your legs, they drive me crazy," he was stroking her legs while pulling up her skirt. He loved them. And she knew how much he did; she had been playing with her legs for the whole past hour, and he had tried to resist. She was crossing them and exposing for him to be teased.

There was something in Andy Flynn, that would send Sharon completely crazy, and that something would make her cross all the lines she had traced herself, of respect of the ranks, of not getting sentimentally involved and one for sure was never to explore sexual intercorses into the ladies room. But he had that something and she loved it.

She loved that he woke up her most wild instincts, that she had buried down into her heart, to the point that she even had forgotten to have them. Each one of his thrust, was now a reminder of those instincts, and as much as she was conflicted to follow them at first, she was enjoying every moment of it. She needed more, but she couldn't have it now. This had been just an itch to scratch at this moment, but they would have had a whole night for each other.

As they were dressing themselves up, Sharon had a fugitive look at Andy and smiled. "This has never happened,"

Andy pulled up his trouser's zip, "ohh like any other time has never happened. I don't know what you are talking about!" He winked at her.

They quickly had a look out of the door to see if anyone was coming and then they both walked out of the ladies room. Andy had almost forgot to take off the signal he had written, "this goes into my desk drawer. You never know when you are going to use one of these again," he snort-laughed at himself for the joke.

Sharon quickly noticed he had a smudge of her lipstick on his neck and hurried to clean it before they arrived to the murder room.

"Oh, Captain. These," Provenza took a bouquet of flowers and gave them to her, "are for you!"

"Lieutenant, what,"

"I didn't buy you flowers, I'm not that _idiot_ ," he gave a look to his partner.

Sharon quickly turned to look at Andy. He bought her flowers and had them delivered at work? Had he gone totally crazy? But Andy shrugged and made it clear he knew nothing about.

She had a look at the bouquet, trying to find a paper signed. It was hiding down, just right under the biggest and more colorful of those flowers. She picked it up and read it out loud, "soon." She was puzzled. Then like an intuition, something turned on into her mind, "what if…" she turned to Provenza. "Lieutenant who gave you these flowers?"

"I don't know, a woman," Provenza was vague and he couldn't remember, or he didn't even pay attention to who it was.

"Describe her!" Andy had understood Sharon's thoughts.

"Pale, little, I don't know," he shrugged.

"Her hair? Was she blonde?"

"No, brunette. Why?"

Sharon looked at Andy and they both understood that it wasn't Beth, but the thought it could have been her had really crossed their minds.

Andy saw the anxiety hitting on Sharon again. She had finally calmed down, and she felt protected at work. Just a few minutes ago, they were together and she was happy and satisfied. And now everything had been twisted again.

He put an arm around her, to reassure her that he was there and that he had understood what she thought, and that he knew she was scared. But he was there. He turned to the group, they were all wondering what was happening, why all those questions. Andy looked down to his partner's eyes as he spoke, "because I think that your killer was just in this room a few minutes ago."


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

The entire division ran out trying to catch the person who delivered the flowers, and Provenza grabbed the phone to put an alert, he was trying to remember as many details as possible about this woman.

Andy was ready to jump on the run but Sharon grabbed him by the arm and stopped him. She didn't say a word, but the terror in her eyes spoke to him for her. She didn't feel safe anywhere, anymore. Her house had been taken from her, her work place didn't feel secure anymore; she only had Andy's house, but at this point, they both felt that it was just a matter of time, before the killer found out they were staying there.

She had understood a while ago already, that being next to Andy had been the biggest problem, and yet now it was the safest place to be, by his side. Whoever was doing all of this wanted her, but would have never hurt Andy because she loved him. Being constantly by his side, was Sharon's best chance to stay alive.

They didn't find anyone, the woman had left already and quickly, but Provenza had managed to put an alert on her and every man and woman of the LAPD, knew who they had to look for.

Sharon and Andy looked at each other, it was clear now they couldn't hide their relationship anymore, but Sharon didn't want to explain it. Andy didn't need any word to understand, "Chief, could you please go with her to the restroom?"

"Let's go, Sharon," Brenda grabbed Sharon's arm and they walked out. Sharon turned back to look at Andy and he smiled at her. Everything was going to be fine.

He waited that they disappeared behind the glass door and then he turned to the squad, "okay. Umm, the Chief knows it already, and so does Provenza," he pointed to his partner that was sitting right beside him at his desk, "and well Julio too,"

"Wait what? Sanchez knows?" Provenza seemed really irritated. "You told him before you told me?"

"I didn't and that is not the point," Andy replied to him visibly annoyed by his interruption.

Julio raised his arm to take the word, "I saw them kissing before, sir!"

"Idiot," Provenza mattered and came back to his crosswords.

"As I was saying," he looked at his partner, "before to be interrupted again. Making it short, the Captain…" he corrected himself, "Sharon and I have a relationship. She's my girlfriend, and it has been so for a few years now, and… yes Julio?"

Julio had raised his hand again, "do you sleep together, Sir?"

"Sanchez!" Provenza thundered. "I do not want to hear more about these two _idiots_ , more than I was forced to." He turned to Andy, "I still don't know how you could do this to me,"

"It's what I live for, bothering you. Anyways, guys I am only telling you this because I need your help, and…" Julio asked to speak again, "if you want details I'm not gonna give you,"

Julio stood up to speak, "Sir. We knew it already," Andy looked at him puzzled.

"A couple of months ago Gabriel saw you at the movies with her, you were holding hands," Tao intervened and he stood up to go next to Andy. "And you changed your mood around her lately, you were always smiling," he offered him a hand shake and put the other on his shoulder. "Good job, Andy. He's a type but she's beautiful,"

"Thank you," Sharon and Brenda appeared behind Tao. They were back from the restroom and Sharon walked quickly close to Andy, now that everyone knew about it they didn't have to hide anymore, she felt free and comfortable about clasping her hand with his. "I know it sounds all strange and that nobody could expect this from me, but I wanted to thank you for understanding,"

Andy looked at her puzzled, "because it's expected it from me instead?" He was seriously asking.

"Flynn, look at the white board," Provenza pointed him out the board was full with pictures of women he dated.

Andy just raised his hands as an apology for his question and grabbed Sharon's hand in his again, "go on!"

"Andy knows it's unexpected for me as it is for you, but it happened and even with all of these consequences, it's a choice I don't regret." She smiled at him and he smiled back, it was the first time in weeks she had said she never regretted it, "and Chief Johnson told me what you all want to do, and I cannot thank you enough for looking after my well being,"

"It's not your well being we are going to look after, it's this idiot friendship that forces us to do this!" Provenza gestured her to move away because he had to sit back to his desk.

"Thank you, I appreciate the kindness," Andy looked at Provenza, "the sarcasm a little less, though! Guys, really thank you."

He whispered to her ear not to care about the old man words, they were all going to help. They had all volounteered, and Provenza had been ordered to by Chief Johnson's highest rank, to help Andy with her private care. And Andy felt greatful and much more relaxed to know that he could leave her in good hands for a meeting with AA; it had been days since he last attended one and he really needed it.

Sanchez had offered to take the nights, since he wasn't a deep sleeper and differently from the others, he had no one to wait for him at home. Provenza said that he would have stopped by in the mornings for a good breakfast, and that was pretty much all the help he offered to his partner.

"You are buying us all dinner tonight, Flynn!" He had decided and Andy had happily said yes, but instead of buying it, he was going to cook it. A good dinner with friends was a great idea for both he and Sharon, she needed to relax and she needed to see that outside the working hours, they were actually good people.

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

"You are becoming a really good help in the kitchen, you know?" Andy leaned in and kissed her sweetly.

"Captain, you have a Flynn on your face," Provenza was sitting on the chouch zapping TV. Everyone snort-laughed.

Sharon smiled, "Thank you for the warning, Lieutenant. But I don't dislike it," she turned to Andy again. "It must be hard for you cooking with the t-shirt," she snorted thinking that she had enjoyed quite a few times to see him cooking without it.

"Yeah, I thought you'd become jealous if I shared my hot body view with everyone,"

"We are all thankful for your thought, Flynn." Provenza muttered some incomprehensible words and yet again, everyone laughed at his comments. "Flynn, I'm hungry. Hurry up!"

Andy let go out of a breath very loudly, "would it be such a terrible thought if I left him dying of hunger?"

"Yes!" Provenza stood up, "I will haunt your dreams until the day you die, and I wish you to live long, Flynn!"

"Okay, maybe not then. Can I transfer with you?" He turned to Sharon and grinned.

"Absolutely not!" Sharon stuffed a berry into his mouth and moved away from him.

"Hey, that hurts. I'm a good cop,"

"You are the one I investigated for mistrust conduct the more than anyone else in this room," she looked over her shoulder. "Okay maybe he is, but you have the second place. What possibly makes you think to be fit to the job in my division?"

Andy thought for a few seconds, "Chief. My loyalty is all to you. I stay with you!"

"Thank you, Lieutenant, I appreciate!" Brenda smiled and they all laughed. It was the kind of relaxing time that Andy had needed and wanted for Sharon.

"Knock, knock," at the door appeared Beth with a cake in her hands. It was a good night and they had decided to have dinner outside, in the backyard, and the only division between the two houses, was a short white fence, with a gate that neither Andy or Beth had ever locked.

Everyone jumped with their guns out pointing to Beth and screaming her to raise her hands. "Calm down, everyone. She's our neighbour." Sharon yelled over their voices to be heard. They put their guns down.

"I'm sorry, Beth. We received a few threats and they are just doing their job," Sharon tried smiling at her, even though she wished she didn't have to see her.

"Oh my God, are you okay Sharlene?" Beth entered and put down the cake and walked to Sharon.

"Yes, and for the hundreth time, it's Sharon!" Beth burst into laughter.

"I keep saying it wrong," Sharon found it deeply irritating. "Andy, I baked again more than I should have, I thought you would have liked some jam tart. I made it with the peaches from my tree," she was smiling and flirting. Anyone could see that, only Andy didn't really see it. Or he didn't want to admit it with Sharon.

Andy had tried to invite Beth for dinner, but thankfully Sharon had stopped him on time before he could say it. Seeing her in the mornings, and every time they came back home, was an enough amount of times already.

After dinner they were sitting outside, tasting some good coffee and Beth's jam tart. "Delicious," Brenda took a second piece.

"Your neighbour is a great cook, Sir!" Julio complimented.

"Yep. Beth is the best," Andy sticked his fork into his last bite and then looked over at Sharon who was annoyed by his last affirmation. "After you, of course. You are the best, she comes after!"

Her arms were folded. She hadn't touch it. "We need more coffee," she said and stood up walking inside. Andy followed her.

"Hey, is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything. Go and enjoy your bff wonderful cake," she was nervous.

"Are you jealous? Because I love when you are,"

"I am not jealous, Andy. I have just had enough hearing about Beth and only Beth for the whole dinner. Beth is so sweet, Beth is such a good cook, Beth can't take her eyes off of my man and he doesn't get it," she stuffed a coffee filter in the machine and poured water and pushed the button to start. "It would be nice to have one meal without being constantly reminded of her existence!"

"Okay," Andy put down the plate and grabbed Sharon into his arms. "I will not talk about her anymore, and will stab with my fork anyone who will. Please Sharon," he softly kissed her lips. "Don't be jealous. We are all here to protect you, isn't this an expression of love?" He kissed her again, more intensively this time, and in that moment Julio entered.

"Oops, sorry Sir. I forgot my phone inside,"

"Nothing you haven't seen already, Julio!" He joked.

The rest of the evening passed quickly, among laughter and joking on Andy's and Sharon's relationship. He had taken part to the jokes, while she had been constantly embarassed to expose her private life so much, but at this point it was inevitable.

When it was time to leave, Julio had already settled on the couch, with some motor magazines that he had borrowed from Andy, and a blanket. "Goodnight, everyone!" He had said and already started reading one of the mags.

"That Beth," Provenza said and Andy walked him out of the door hoping that Sharon wouldn't hear him. "I don't know but her face tells me something,"

"She's my neighbour since the day I moved in here, you have seen her already," he told him in a whisper.

"Umm, you may be right. I'm a mess with faces, see you tomorrow Flynn. Remember I have eggs and waffles for breakfast,"

"Sure, I'll place for you an order at the cafeteria." He shouted while his partner was walking to his car.

"Are you comfortable, Detective Sanchez?" Sharon had tried to convince Julio to use the guest room, but he had refused. He was rather comfortable on the couch and he didn't plan to sleep in too deep anyway.

"Yes, Ma'am. I can keep everything under control from here. It's good," she smiled at him.

"Okay, have a good night then."

In the bedroom, Sharon was thoughtful. They had brushed their teeth and changed into night clothes, and now she was in the bed thinking about everything that had happened in the day, and she was too distracted to enjoy Andy's smooching on her neck.

"A penny for your thoughts?" He had noticed it and stopped kissing her.

"I was just thinking at today, and how everyone is twisting their lives because of me. I don't like to be a bother," she turned on her side to be face to face with him.

"They are not twisting their lives for you, they are doing for us, and they are friends. It's not a bother at all. They want to help," he stretched his arm to pull her closer to him. "And if you hadn't noticed, I think they somehow you have their affection now!"

Sharon smiled. Andy was so sweet to really believe they were doing it for her, Provenza had cleared it was just because he was their friend and collegue for a long time now, and she happened to be his love interest. But he was sweet for trying and making her feel better. She kissed the top of his nose, "you are a sweet man!" She whispered.

Andy got closer and kissed her. He moved from her lips to her neck, and back to her lips. "Andy, what are you doing?" She could feel his hand wandering under her shirt.

"Trying to make you have sex with me, I think!" He moved back looking at her.

"There's a man sleeping on the couch, in the room next to this one. We cannot!"

"Ohhh, c'mon. He saw us kissing twice already, at this point I think he's expecting to see us making out," it was so obvious for him. The door was closed, and they had had a good evening after all; being intimate with Sharon was the cherry on the top of the cake for Andy.

"No," he grumbled. "No, we will not put up a porn show!" Sharon cuddled into his hug and she could hear him lamenting that they were not going to have sex, and she had a hard time to not show she was laughing.

Somehow, the exhausting and stressing situation at work, had passed and she felt at ease and secure again into his hug, and into his house.


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

 **Two weeks later…**

Sharon was standing by the printer and laughing at Julio's jokes. The situation hadn't changed much for the two from before, but tension had lessened ever since Julio had been spending his nights at Andy's for her protection. She felt already protected with Andy only, but adding Julio to the picture made her feel extremely secured, so much that she could enjoy laughter even next to the white board.

Andy was looking at the scene from afar and he was angry. He approached to them, "do you prefer to be left alone?" He said.

"Don't be jealous, Andy." Sharon put a hand on his tie and when she had grabbed the last paper from the printer, they walked back to the desk. "Julio and I were just talking," Sharon's voice was lowering and she had been closer to Andy, so much that he could have kissed her but he didn't, because he knew she had put limits to how much affection he could show her in public. Their relationship had been disclosed to the Major Crimes division, but to anyone else in the building they were still just co-workers.

"Okay everyone," Provenza entered into the murder room with a picture in his hands. "If Flynn has stopped playing the idiot he normally is, we can focus back on the case, and our case is now…" he put the picture on the white board and stuck it with a magnetic pin, right between the eyes of the woman in the picture.

"Did you have to put it right between my eyes?" Sharon said sarcastically finding out he had placed a picture of her.

"It's just symbolic," he turned to look at his partner, who had stood up and hurried to remove that pin from her forehead. "Thank you, Flynn! Now. We know that the final target, is Flynn's latest fling…"

"Girlfriend," Andy corrected him immediately and turned to Sharon to assure her he had it all under control. Sharon smiled at him and looked back at Provenza.

"Girlfriend," Provenza repeated but muttered an idiot whispering. "The Captain! Now, how do we get this person to avoid taking her and torturing her and then ultimately killing her?"

At his words Sharon shivered, the idea of being kidnapped, tortured and killed, scared her again. Andy noticed it and squeezed her hand. "Can you take my picture off, Lieutenant?" Sharon let go of Andy's grip and stood up nervously. "I would rather not be put into the victims column," Chief Johnson gestured at Provenza to do as she asked.

"Lieutenant Tao, can you show me again the video of the woman who delivered the flowers?" She went closer to Tao and put on her glasses. They had been watching that video over and over again, but they didn't find a single thing that could identify who that woman was; at this point of the investigation, they felt to be at a dead point. While no other woman's body had been found, they couldn't deny that any new corpse they had found brought them more details than the previous one. It had been weeks now that nothing had happened.

While everyone was getting another look at that video, and Andy had been denied to as it was an evidence in the investigation he wasn't to take part to, he and Sharon walked to the break room. "Hey babe," Sharon was shaking like a leaf and Andy wrapped his arms around her as soon as they entered the room. "Sharon, everything is fine. You're safe!"

"I know. But hearing your name and seeing your face up there on the white board, while he is describing everything that could happen to you… it's not easy, Andy!" She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. She wasn't used to such care and compassion for her, and she still found it odd at times, that Andy dedicated so much of his efforts to make her happy or keep her safe, but she was appreciating not having to go through it alone.

Andy pressed his forehead against her and put his hands on her cheeks. He softly kissed her, "we are in this together, okay? I'm not leaving you alone." They kissed again, more intensively and Sharon wrapped her arms around him and didn't want to let go of him. "I think we need some coffee, and make plans for tonight."

"Julio said there is a nice italian restaurant nearby to your house and-"

Andy rolled his eyes, "I am sorry to make you sad but he won't be one of us tonight. He has a date." Andy poured coffee into a mug and gave it to Sharon, "tonight's babysitting is left to Tao, but his son has a thing in school and he will come in a little bit later," he tried to seem sad that Julio wasn't going to be there but he had a huge smile printed on his face.

He was very appreciative to his fellows for helping out and looking after Sharon's safety, but it had been too long since he had a night alone with her. And he needed it. And he had wanted it. "If you want to go to that restaurant we can go, but then I want you home with me. All for me. Lazy oldies on the couch," he smiled at the thought.

"Who did you just call an oldie?" Sharon put down her cup and folded her arms.

"No, no. I was talking about me, not you. You are a wonderful, young," Andy walked to her side and started kissing her cheek, "gorgeous flower. And I am an idiot but I hope you will forgive me and make love to me tonight, even after I made a gaffe." Andy smiled waiting for her answer.

Sharon kept her annoyed look for a few seconds before she started smiling at him. She leaned and kissed him, "we will see if I will let you!"

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

As they arrived at home, Sharon was expecting Beth to jump on them at any moment, but it didn't happen. It surprised her, but she didn't say anything to Andy, not to ruin the joy of the situation.

"Okay, I am home. Now you can go," Sharon turned the key into the door lock, but she didn't let him in.

"Go where? What are you talking about?" Andy stood there, trying to enter his own house.

"Andy, it's thursday. You have your meeting,"

"Sharon, really. Let me in, I can skip one meeting!"

"No, you can't!" Andy finally managed to win her over opening the door. "Andy, it's weeks that nothing has happened. No weird ghosts moving things, no weird encounters recorded on cameras, I will sit down here and read a book until you arrive," Sharon put her hands on his chest. "I promise I will wait for you, and then we will go to dinner, and then we will come back here and spend the whole night together, I promise!" She was whispering in a soft tone, breathing into his ear; Sharon kissed him on the lips and pushed him out. "Time to go," she closed the door and locked it.

Andy stayed outside looking at it, he had hoped she was going to open it again, but that hadn't happened and so he resigned and walked back to his car to leave for a meeting.

Sharon watched him leaving from the windows, she was still smiling. It scared her to be home alone, after a while that she had always someone around, it was weird to be left alone, but she had needed it, she wanted to regain her strength and to start doing things alone again. She let go of a breath before to turn on her heels.

"What…" Sharon looked over Andy's leather arm-chair; a vase with a rose had been placed on the floor. She walked over and leaned to grab it and she found a note attached, she read it out loud _NOW_.

Before she even realized she had fallen into a trap, Sharon saw a shadow running towards her, but it was too late to run away, her legs weren't moving.

She was laying on the floor with a shot of electric charge going through her body. Everything else became black within minutes.


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

On his way out of the meeting, Andy stopped by a flower shop to buy a bouquet for Sharon. Their night had to be magical and perfect, they were going out to dinner, enjoying some time alone and then finally they were going to have some time for themselves again. During these past weeks, he had only managed to convince her with some smooching and a few touches, but nothing more than this. Sharon was still insisting on the fact that Julio was with them in the house and she didn't feel comfortable about having sex.

He turned on his phone and started checking his phone calls and messages; as usual, Provenza had tried calling him 5 times, and he could imagine his partner's madness when he hadn't picked up, and there were a few messages, among which on top showed one from Sharon:

 _Emergency at work, I'll meet you there._

He was annoyed by it, when they finally had a night together, work had called again. He entered the car visibly mad, and turned on the engine, when his phone rang.

 _*Flynn, where the hell are you?*_

"On my way to work, good evening to you too," he drove out of the parking lot.

 _*Hurry up*_ Provenza hung up, it sounded so weird and suspicious but it was Provenza, he was constantly moody.

When he arrived in the parking lot every spot was empty but his colleagues ones, they were all there working on this case. He started feeling anxious. He had a quick look at Sharon's parking lot and her car was there.

"Okay, what is this emergency that cannot wait. Hurry up, I have a date tonight!" He entered with a big smile and the flowers in his hands.

"You didn't have to bring me flowers, Flynn. I hate flowers," Provenza walked towards him and pushed him to sit down, "sit!"

Andy took a seat, "okay but before we start, where is Sharon?" They looked at each other shrugging, nobody had seen her. "Her car is here, she texted me there was an emergency at work and that we would have to meet here," his anxiety was starting to come back but Provenza put it down immediately.

"She's probably stuck with Pope in a meeting, now focus on here. We were alerted on a new body they found, brunette, blue eyes, Mary Rodsam, do you know her?"

Andy took a few seconds to watch the photo his partner had given him and reflect on the name. He was trying to find in the back of his mind any sign that he had ever pronounced that name. "No, I have never heard of her,"

"Are you sure? Look at her with a closer look,"

"I am not as old as you, I still have a few years before the memory loss starts, I don't recall her at all." Andy gave the picture back to his partner, "I have never seen her." He grabbed his phone from his pocket.

"What are you doing?" Provenza was annoyed with him already.

"I am calling Sharon," he dialed her number and let it ring for a few minutes, until it went to her voice mail. As soon as he closed the call, his phone rang again.

Flynn stood up immediately and walked away from the group, and Provenza started yelling behind him how mad he was for the lack of respect he was having with him.

"Fritz, what is it?" Andy was keeping a lower tone.

"Andy, we got a match on that video. The program recognized her through the scanner and has a record in the county jail," he could hear noises of cars in the background. "I'm arriving to the district, meet me there!" He hung up and Andy walked back to the murder room.

"Agent Howard may have found something useful for you," he let go of a breath and dialed Sharon's number again. It went again to the voice mail. "Sharon where are you? I'm at work but I can't find you. Call me when you hear this, please. We have new pieces of information." He was starting to get really worried. She had texted him to meet there but she was nowhere to be found. Later he had tried again to call her, but this time it went to her voice mail directly, without even ringing.

When Fritz arrived they all gathered around Tao's big monitors and watched the video Andy had recorded together. "Stop here," Fritz asked Tao to stop on a specific frame that showed partially one the left side of her face. "We crossed checked this frame with videos in county jail, hoping to find someone that had been arrested and recently released, but it's even more surprising," he opened a folder with some papers. "She isn't a criminal but a visitor, wife of one, Bethany Judith-"

"Cooper." Andy finished the name for him. He knew her. It was his neighbour and it shocked him.

Chief Pope entered the murder room, "Chief. Is Sharon with you?"

"Captain Raydor? No, last time I saw her it had been hours ago when you both left. Why should she be here?" Chief Pope was puzzled about Andy's question.

Realization hit him. Andy understood it all. It hadn't been Sharon to send him that message, it had been Beth, and she did to keep him away from his house, and all the squad suddenly found a new body, that had nothing to do with him. It was all a distraction.

He was so furious, "send the closest patrol to my house. RIGHT NOW!" He shouted to his partner and ran out of the murder room.

"Lieutenant Provenza of Major Crimes, all patrol are allerted to…" he heard the old man talking at the phone as the glass doors opened.

Andy took the stairs and heard steps behind him, probably of his own fellow officers and friends. He was losing it, imagining everything that was possibly going to happen to Sharon, and he couldn't forgive himself for having brought Sharon so close to her.

 _*All clear. I repeat, the house is empty. Sir…*_ the voice on the radio paused for a few seconds. _*There is blood all over the floor.*_


	33. Chapter 33

_This chapter has been reviewed by **.disguise**_

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

They all arrived to Andy's place, and he came out of the car without even closing the door. He ran into his house and was petrified at the view of the blood on his floor.

"Sir, sir!" Julio grabbed him and they both slid down to the floor at the entrance to the house. "Sir, she kept them for three days. She is still alive!" He was whispering words of reassurance trying to keep Andy calm, but the truth was they didn't know if Beth was going to do to Sharon the same things she had done to the other women. Those might have just been attempts to try and leave the best for the grand finale. As far as they knew, there was a bountiful quantity of blood and it might not be Sharon's, only a lab test could confirm.

"I lost her, I lost her!" Andy kept repeating these words, watering them with tears. "I lost her and I will never see her again."

"Flynn, you listen to me now!" Provenza leaned down and called his partner's attention to him. "That woman is a damn pain in the ass, but she is strong and never loses a fight. She will come out of this too," his voice lowered and calmed. "And we will find her… alive!"

Andy slowly stood up and his look wandered over his partner's shoulder and further to the house next door. He saw Beth looking at the scene from the window, and without thinking too much he ran to her door. They had tried to stop him, Julio had put himself in front of him and so did Tao, Provenza and Chief Johnson kept on calling him by his rank.

As he had crossed Beth's garden she had come out of the house, "Andy what is happening? Are you okay?"

Andy didn't answer her, he went closer and grabbed her by her throat with one hand. "WHERE IS SHE?" He started screaming at her. He repeated it three times in a row, giving her no time to answer.

Finally, Julio and Tao managed to grab him and push him away from Beth, "what is wrong with you?" Beth was gasping and coughing. Brenda and Provenza had reached them and were helping Beth up.

"You took her," Andy shouted at her again. "WHERE IS SHE?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, who?"

"Sharon," Andy shouted her name and Beth froze. She had been caught, it was there on a video, they had a matching reference and they knew it had been her.

"Beth Cooper, you are under arrest for-" Brenda had taken out her handcuffs, ready to arrest Beth for the kidnapping of Sharon and the murder of the other six victims, but her own husband had stopped her immediately. He arrived in forces with three other agents from the FBI.

"Brenda, stop!" He turned to Beth and grabbed her by her arm,separating her from the group. "She comes with us, it's a federal case now!"

Everyone from the Major Crimes division protested; no one more than Andy. He didn't know where Sharon was, or what happened to her and he wasn't being allowed to even arrest and interrogate the person responsible for all this.

"Trust me!" It's everything that Fritz had said Andy, nothing more, and he had walked away with Beth in his custody.

They had asked Chief Pope if they could use Major Crimes interrogation rooms, "a bomb threatening at our offices," had called it Fritz. His plan instead, was to let his wife and her team supervise their conversation with Beth through their monitors.

When they sat down with her, Beth was scared and trembling. Andy's previous exploit had frightened her, she looked confused and unsure as to why she had been brought down to be interrogated. Everyone was shocked at how good of an actor.

"My sincerest apologies for how Lieutenant Flynn treated you before," Fritz put a glass of water in front of Beth. From the electronics, Andy was really nervous and grumbling. "Mrs. Cooper we possess evidence that coroborates you being at Captain Sharon Raydor's private residence,"

"I don't know what you are talking about, I have never been to her house. I don't know her!" She replied quickly.

"You met her at your neighbor's place, Lieutenant Flynn."

"Yes, I meant I don't know her so well to be invited to her place. I don't even know where she lives," Beth sipped from her glass of water.

"Mrs. Cooper, a video is showing you entering her apartment. You broke into her house and have been recorded in the act," Fritz showed her a frame photo extracted from the video. She looked shocked, she grabbed it in her hands and looked at it over and over again at it. She kept on saying she wasn't the person in that frame, but the video program didn't lie and it had shown it was her.

They talked to her for a few hours, asking about her husband, her family, her relationship with Andy and the whole neighborhood; they asked her about her relationship with Sharon, on which she lied saying she loved she was with Andy, and then she revealed she was jealous because she had always liked Andy.

Many times during the interrogation, she had asked why they were interrogating her and if she needed a lawyer, but Fritz had assured her it wasn't really an interrogation, just some questioning to help them find Sharon alive, to know if she knew or had seen anything, and by the end of it he let her go, "you are free to go Mrs. Cooper. We would appreciate if you call us, if you remember anything," Fritz gave her one of his business cards. "Don't hesitate to call me," he smiled at her. Beth was still confused, but she took the card and smiled to him as well.

As she walked out of the interrogation room, she met with Andy again. She stepped back, remembering his previous reaction, but then leaned forward and put a hand on his arm, "I hope you find her, Andy!"

He closed his hand in a fist, but resisted any impulse he had to react. They needed to find Sharon, and letting go of Beth and following her, was their best chance.

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

Sharon slowly opened her eyes. Her head was hurting and so was her chest, she could feel a heavy pain in her stomach but it wasn't for hunger, it was something else. The last thing she remembered it was all blurred in her mind, and so it was her sight. She was coming back to her senses but everything was still not focused and clear.

She could hear noises in the background and could smell something unpleasant when she was getting more conscious of her surroundings. She understood it was a big space, and very humid, she was feeling cold. She was sitting on a chair, actually she was tied to a chair, and the rope was bruising her wrists. When her sight stopped being blurred, she turned around her head to find something that would suggest where she was. It was in that moment she met a pair of brown eyes, looking at her without life. A man was laying next to her, he had been stabbed to death.

Sharon was disgusted by the sight, but more from the stench, that she couldn't resist and vomited to her side. She was still coughing for breath, when she heard steps walking closer and saw the door knob turning right.

"I hope you are hungry!" A woman showed up, with a pretty smile on her face, and a tray with a glass and food in her hands.

Sharon looked at her, among all the people they had possibly considered, she had been on top of her list, but Andy had assured her she wasn't the killer. She had been right since the beginning and now she had been kidnapped by her. But still, she looked astonished to learn all of this, in a time frame of just a few seconds. That woman who had smiled at her for weeks from the other side of the fence, who had joked about getting her name wrong, who had flirted with Andy and baked for them tons and tons of delicacies; this tiny woman had killed five women and had kidnapped her, and now that she was looking at the big picture she understood that the man laying dead next to her, had to be her accomplice and he had become a too uncomfortable figure into the ultimate plan she had. She had killed him and by leaving him there for her to see, she was sending her a message that she didn't need a big man to put an end to her life.

Sharon was still looking at her, and breathing heavily, when she gasped out her name, "Beth…"


	34. Chapter 34

_This chapter has been reviewed by **lifeindisguise**_

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Sharon couldn't believe her eyes. She entered with a tray and put it down nicely, smiling at her sweetly. "You need to eat something," she said.

"Beth what are you doing? Why?" Sharon was shocked and surprised. She looked at the woman at her feet, who was pouring water into a glass.

"This is the point," she moved the glass to her mouth to let her drink from it with a straw. Sharon refused it. "You need to drink," she tried again to give it to her but she refused it again. She let go of a breath and drank from the glass. "It's not poisoned. It wouldn't make sense to get to this point and kill you by poisoning, I could have done it for months now," she put down the glass to pour more water into it.

This time Sharon drank from the straw and didn't stop looking at her with a shocked look. "As I was saying, this is the point of it all." Sharon had finished drinking, "I am not Beth. I have never been her," she grabbed a piece of fruit with a fork and offered it to Sharon. "You all believed I was because it was her house and everything, but I was not her."

Sharon took the food she was giving her and couldn't believe her words, "we met. I held your hand and you said your name. You said you were Beth,"

The woman smiled, "do you remember that time you moved into Andy's house?" Sharon nodded, "that's the only time you had truly met Beth."

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

Everyone was busy at the district. They had put a bug inside Beth's house and another inside her car, they wanted to monitor her movements and hopefully she would bring them to Sharon.

Andy was nervously walking back and forth from the murder room, asking anyone if there was any news, until Provenza got bored with him and tasked him a desk job of researching records. It was then when he noticed a detail that had been missed by everyone else. "People," he printed the paper and walked to them. "Here it says that Beth was not in Los Angeles. Oh my God," Andy put down the paper. "She left the evening that we moved to my place." Andy was confused. For weeks they had interacted with a woman that looked like Beth, talked like Beth, walked like Beth but it wasn't Beth. Who was she?

"Found it," Tao called everyone to get closer to his desk, "Melody Bronson!" He showed them a picture.

"Beth has a twin sister?" Andy couldn't believe his eyes: she was Beth, but with dark hair and blue eyes, "I didn't know she did."

"That is because, from the age of eighteen Melody has been living in…" Tao scrolled down quickly to find her current residence. "The Sunflowers Residence, in Ohio"

"What the hell is The Sunflowers Residence?" Provenza put on his glasses to read better.

"It's a wellness center, mental health…"

"That explains a few things," Julio commented whispering.

"According to the records, Melody has been in and out of jail for a few small crimes as an adolescent. Robbery in a cosmetic store for a lipstick, breaking and entering," the list was long but it was all about minor fellonies and nothing involving murders or kidnapping. She had been a very troubled teenager, and the more they dug into their past, the more Andy had a clear picture as to why Beth had never mentioned a twin sister.

They learned that Beth was originally from Ohio and according to the news-papers of a few years ago, there had been a scandal surrounding her family, involving Melody and their step-father who had been accused of abusing her. He hadn't been convicted for there was a lack of evidence on what the girl had reported, and while Beth moved away and changed her last name to Cooper, Melody had been sent to The Sunflowers Residence. "She was released a few times and…" Tao was scrolling through her records, "she came here living with her sister and brother-in-law. But she always came back after a few weeks,"

"I have never met her," Andy had honestly never met this person.

"Probably because they never wanted you to," Julio said. "They probably had her locked up in a room and kept hidden from everyone. These types of people live a sheltered life and she was very young when she was hospitalized. I bet she doesn't even know what is around her,"

Tao continued, "last time she checked in it was two years ago. She sent letters to her sister. Holy crap,"

"What?"

"She escaped from the facility three weeks ago and nobody knows where she's gone."

They had all the pieces, this woman, who was the evil twin sister of Andy's neighbour, had escaped from a mental health facility and was nowhere to be found. They were sure she was closer than they could know, and that she was in Los Angeles. It had been her pretending to be Beth for this whole time and now she had Sharon.

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

"You look like her," Sharon was still astonished by learning so much about Melody.

"That is because I am wearing a wig," she took off her blonde hair and her dark locks fell from it. "But nothing I do is enough to be the perfect Beth," her fist pressed against her leg and her hand became all red. "Beth has a beautiful house, a wonderful neighbour…" she paused and her eyes looked sad. "He never noticed me," when she lifted her head she was smiling and was looking at Sharon. "Do you think he would like me?"

Sharon couldn't believe it, this woman changed her mood in the time of a heart-beat. She was sad and suddenly a moment later happy. She had never feared for her life more than she had in this moment. Her whole survival depended on her responses to her. "I am sure he would. You are pretty, and his type!" She had said it, knowing she was talking about Andy, but her forced smile didn't convince Melody.

She didn't shout though. She smiled sarcastically at Sharon, "you are lying." She stood up and walked behind her. Sharon couldn't see what was going to happen.

She felt her hair being lifted and suddenly Melody was sitting on the floor and they were laying over her head. "Maybe he would like me more if I had your hair," she caressed them. "Maybe I should try them on," she quickly stood up and grabbed the tray from the floor and walked to the door. She stopped for a minute and then turned to Sharon smiling. "Maybe I will try them on me," she walked out of the door and shut it behind her.

Sharon let go of a scream she had been holding in: it was desperate, tears fell from her eyes and her voice hoarse. She was tied to a chair, and anything could have happened to her, but she had no power to stop it.

Sharon's only thought was that she needed to escape somehow, but first she needed a plan to free herself.


	35. Chapter 35

_This chapter has been reviewed by **Sarah**._

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Sharon was sitting alone in the room, only the dead body of that man next to her. She still planned to escape, but she didn't know how to get free of the ropes just yet; she looked around again. All she could see was a clock on the wall, ticking so loudly to mark the minutes passing from her kidnapping, and a small window from which got light air. Soon the cold of the evening would have passed through it as well.

Sharon tried twisting and turning for a while, so much that she had even fallen on her side and was now laying on the floor. She could smell the body more from that position, and it made her sick again.

When Melody entered with her dinner and saw her laying down there, she rushed to help her up.

"How did you manage to fall, _silly_?" She was very strong to be so short. Sharon spotted her arms and there were good muscles on there. Melody fixed her hair, which was a mess after she fell.

"Please let me go," Sharon begged her. She was exhausted and couldn't feel her legs anymore.

"Oh for God's sake, we have just started having fun!" She placed the tray on Sharon's legs and grabbed a few pieces of cheese to feed her.

"Why don't you just kill me, then?" Sharon didn't want to it, but Melody forced her.

"We have time to get there, we have plenty of time." She smiled and forced her to another bite.

Sharon spit it out and started shouting for help. Her voice faltered.

"You can shout as much as you want, nobody will hear you. We are alone here. There is just you and I, and well Charlie too but he's not much of a talker I'm afraid," Melody looked to the corpse of her accomplice and laughed. The woman's madness scared Sharon. "Drink," she said forcing Sharon's lips open, and soon Sharon started feeling dizzy. Her sight became blurred.

"I need to run some errands, but I will be back. You get comfortable and sleep in the meantime, see you later!" She leaned on Sharon and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

Soon Sharon wasn't able to keep her eyes open anymore, and drifted off to sleep., she only had a few seconds to think she must have given her some drugs to put her down.

When she woke up everything was different. She wasn't tied to a chair anymore, and she could see the light of a new day entering from the small window. Her feet barely reached the floor, only toes touched it, and she felt a heavy pain in her arms.

"Finally you are awake, I may have given you too much drugs," she laughed and Sharon saw her walking around.

Her sight was still blurred and she still couldn't understand too much of what was happening, but she understood she wasn't sitting anymore but hanging. The pain in her shoulders started becoming more present as each minute passed, and she spotted a few drops of blood on the floor. As her senses awoke better, the pain in her right leg started to be more present.

"I wanted to wait for you to be awake, but you took so long and I was getting bored. I hope you don't mind that I started without you." Melody slid her fingers through her leg and she felt the pain. She had stabbed her there while she was sleeping, and now the pain of her open wound was unbearable.

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

After learning more from Beth's past, Chief Johnson called her back down at the district to ask more questions. Andy asked to be present, but he had been denied it after his latest episode with her. He watched the conversation in the break room through the monitors, after Buzz had placed cameras everywhere. They wanted to make Beth feel comfortable talking while learning more about her twin sister.

When she and Chief Johnson came back to the murder room, Andy felt the need to apologize to Beth. It was clear it had been more than five years since she'd last seen her sister. Since the last time she had been released and sent back to the facility. She had no involvement in this case, and she also had been out of town, when she had flown to Ohio, called from the facility about her sister's disappearance.

"Yes!" Provenza picked up the phone that hadn't stopped ringing. He was pissed and tired. He hated when a phone interrupted his work schedule, for those few times he was actually doing it. As soon as the voice on the other end spoke, he called everyone's attention snapping his fingers and putting it on speaker.

 _*I want to talk to Andy*_

Beth recognized the voice immediately and pressed her hands to her mouth. It was her sister.

 _*Are you on Lieutenant?*_

Andy took a deep breath. He had to keep calm and quiet. He needed to stay focused and keep her on the phone as long as he could, so Tao could try to trace it. "Yes, I am on. How is Sharon?"

 _*Not even a hello, handsome?*_

He breathed heavily again, "hello. How is Sharon?"

They heard a snigger. _*She had a long night of good sleep. She is eating and drinking, I take care of her. And now she's playing with me!*_ They couldn't see her but everyone bet she was smiling with pride. In her mind, torturing her was playing.

"Let me talk to her." Andy tried a few times to get her to let him talk to Sharon, but he never got the chance.

"What do you want?" He asked her cold and secure. For the whole time of the conversation, Andy didn't show any emotion. He was visibly losing control and patience, his fist was constantly pressing against Provenza's desk, and his partner was sure he was about to explode.

 _*Oh it's not about what I want anymore, it's all about what you didn't give me in the first place.*_ They heard a noise they couldn't identify and a moan. Andy asked again to speak to Sharon and again Melody had ignored it. _*All these years I have been waiting for you, do you have any idea how it feels? Can you imagine waiting for someone you love to find you? Can you?*_ They heard that noise again and the moan lasted longer this time. _*I bet Sharon does now!*_

"If you hurt her…"

 _*_ What will you do? Kill me? _Well, first you will have to find me.*_ She laughed loudly. _*I bet your techs are trying to trace this call now, but you won't manage to. I wasn't born yesterday. Do you want to say something to him?*_ They imagined she was talking to Sharon.

"Sharon? Babe, can you hear me?" Andy leaned to the phone. He was desperate to hear her voice.

They heard a few sobbings and a feeble voice started speaking _*She is torturing me, please hurry.*_

 _*I thought we were playing, tell them our games.*_ Melody's voice was strong and joyous, she was really happy about what she was doing.

In the murder room, her twin sister Beth instead, was crying and kept a hand to her mouth. She could not believe her sister had become so evil.

"Sharon I'll be there soon. I'm coming to save you, I promise honey. Resist. I love you!" Andy had lost his control, he was emotional and angry.

 _*WRONG RESPONSE*_ Melody shouted at the phone and the noise they had heard before came back stronger and louder. It took Julio a few seconds to understand it. He remembered it from his childhood, all the big parties his whole family had with music and grilled meat. When he was 8 years old he burnt his hand with the grill, and that sound he recognized was a burning object against Sharon's skin.

They heard a last suffering scream from Sharon and then nothing anymore.

Melody had hung up, leaving Andy to hear the woman he loved screaming in pain. He turned hopeful to Tao, but he hadn't been able to trace the call.

All that was left to Andy to do, was to walk away from them and lock himself in the Chief's office. He screamed loud and everyone could hear him, but nobody dared to enter.


	36. Chapter 36

_This chapter has been reviewed by **Sarah**._

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

When Sharon woke up the room was dark again. She was still hanging on a hook and her entire body was aching. It was the pain that woke her up; she must have fainted after the third or fourth pressure from the red-hot iron.

The first thing she noticed was that the body of the man was gone. There wasn't even a bed anymore or a chair. Only that single window from which she could hear the rain. Some drops were falling inside. It took her a few seconds to turn and find Melody next to her smiling.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, sweetheart. Did you have a good sleep?" Sharon tried speaking but something was blocking her voice from coming out and her tongue to move. She had a gag on her mouth. "You wouldn't stop screaming and it was honestly bothering me too much," Melody put down the red-hot iron and put her hands behind Sharon's head. "I will take it off if you promise to stop screaming. I told you once already that nobody can hear us; now, you are just irritating me."

Sharon nodded and when the gag was taken out she breathed heavily, "I'm thirsty!" Melody gave her a glass of water to sip with a straw.

"Andy seemed really impressed on the phone. I think he is starting to really feel something for me," she was smiling and happy. Sharon didn't know this woman, but she could understand the deep level of madness that she was living through. Her mental disorder was so serious that she really believed Andy had been happily impressed by her torturing Sharon at the phone.

She also understood that she had been held captive for two days, and her modus operandi had previously been to keep her victims for three days and torture them then kill them. Sharon's life was rapidly coming to an end. She had so many things left to do and so much to live for, but all she could do was think about her children and how she wasn't going to them anymore.

Sharon wanted to cry, but Melody didn't leave her much time before to start torturing her again. "You don't think he likes me, do you?" She threatened her with the red-hot iron but Sharon was impassive. Melody hit her once and then twice and even three times with it, and Sharon muffled the screams and the tears. She bit her lips instead.

When Melody finished, Sharon lifted her head and looked straight into her eyes. "He will shoot you, as soon as he finds you." Melody screamed and hit her again. Sharon let out a suffered laugh, "he will never love you. He loves me and me only. And he will have no mercy for you!"

She was expecting to be burnt again, but Melody surprised her instead and this time Sharon couldn't contain a scream. She had been tied to a hook that was attached to a series of pulleys and when Melody turned a wheel attached to the wall, Sharon felt the bones of her shoulders stretching into painful cracks.

All she could still feeling was her heart beat into her chest. It beat faster and faster; almost as if it were going to be sucked into her throat.

"You are pretty stupid to talk to me this way," suddenly Melody's voice had turned lower and calmer. "I could kill you!"

"Wasn't this your plan since the beginning?" Sharon coughed. "You have gotten rid of all women of his life, all women that he had a story with, all women that you thought could potentially be a threat to your story."

Melody grinned. "I was wrong; you are smart!"

"My life ended the moment you electrocuted me. You had already decided to kill me. But you want Andy to find you, you want him to see!" Sharon finally let go of her tears.

"You are very right, but it's not only Andy that I want to see. Someone else too." Melody walked out and left the door open. A door that Sharon had hoped to see open before, that she had hoped to take and leave and save her life. But that moment had gone and so it was going to be her life too.

Melody entered pushing someone.

 **Two hours before…**

Beth entered her house with the shopping bags still in her hands. It had been raining all day, and was getting dark outside.

When she turned on the lights she startled.

"Hello sister!" Melody was sitting on the sofa waiting for her. She smiled and stood up as Beth entered, walking to her. She wrapped her arms around a still shocked Beth and kissed her cheeks. "It's been a long time since sis," Melody was smiling sarcastically.

Beth had no words. Last she heard from her sister it had been years before, and when she had gone to Ohio, they had told her they had no idea where she was going after escaping. How could that place be her sister's house? Wouldn't that be the first place they would look for her?

"It seems like you saw a ghost Beth, it's just me. Your sister. You may have forgotten about me but I didn't forget about you." Melody started to wander around the room and grab every picture frame she found to have a look at it. "I always think about you. My beloved sister, who has no time to call, or visit. This is not how you treat family," she shook her finger to her mouth, trying to silence any word Beth could say. "You don't need to say anything. I am actually not here to talk about us. I want to show you something I'm working on, something I have been busy with for the past two days." She stopped in front of a picture of Beth and her husband. "Which is the reason why I am coming to visit now, would you like to see it?"

Beth finally found the courage to speak and walked faster and closer to her sister. "You don't have anything to do with the kidnapping of that police officer, do you?" Beth knew the answer, but in her heart she hoped it was all a big mistake and that her sister hadn't escaped the psychiatric facility to come to Los Angeles to kill people and kidnap police officers.

Melody started laughing and put a hand to her mouth, "guilty!" She burst into a laughter again. She sounded evil and proud of what she had done. "But that's not all the story…"

Before Beth could turn to ask for an explanation, she saw a bat hitting her forehead and fell to the ground. "You have to wait to see the best part!" Melody whispered with satisfaction in her voice. She started to drag her unconscious sister by her arms, out of the door and into her car; she had arrived there in a stolen car but it would have been traced soon, so she had decided to use her sister's.

The moment she started the engine, the tracker Tao had placed on Beth's car started to beep and turn on his computer. It was the sweetest sound Andy had ever heard.

 **Now…**

Beth was pushed inside the room, conscious and scared. A gag had been put in her mouth and her hands were tight with a rope. She looked at Sharon, her eyes were filled with terror.

"We have a guest, Sharon. Be more welcoming and say hello to my sister!" Melody closed the door behind her.

"Hello," Sharon was crying and scared. She had not thought about someone else being trapped in that place with her; she thought she was going to die alone.

Melody walked out the door again to come back a few seconds later with a chair, "sit!" She forced Beth to sit on and bent on her knees to tie her to it.

Sharon tried twisting and turning from the rope, ignoring the pain shooting through her arms. The door was open and it was her best chance to try and escape; but Melody noticed it and punished her turning the wheel again. This time Sharon heard the distinct crack of her left shoulder bones breaking.

"You see what you made me do, sister? None of this wouldn't have happened if you had believed me," Melody had finished tying her to the chair and removed the gag from her mouth.

"What… what are you talking about?" Beth was crying now. She was terrified, not knowing what had happened or would happen to her.

"Father…"

"That's an old story, Melody. You wrongly accused him."

"HE WAS GUILTY!" She shouted and pointed a gun to Beth's head. "He abused me for years, in our bedroom. And you didn't say a word. Mother didn't say a word. And then you left me. You parked me in that place and built your life, with your husband, and your friends and you forgot about me."

"I came to visit every time I could but you were always unconscious, so you don't remember it,"

"And then Andy, oh… you couldn't leave me some happiness with him. You had to take him from me too!"

"I didn't take Andy from you, I didn't even-"

"SAY IT! You wanted him for you and you never let him meet me then you let him go and he found her," she pointed to Sharon with the gun.

"Beth," Sharon interrupted. "Admit it! You didn't want her around so you left her behind. Admit it and apologize!" The situation wasn't going to change and it was falling quickly into a potential mess. Sharon had tried to make Beth admit of her mistakes, to make Melody happy , and hopefully she would have leave them alone for the rest of the night.

"SAY IT!" Melody shouted and pointed the gun to Beth's head again, and she couldn't do anything else but admit all that her sister had accused her for. "Thank you!" After hearing her apologies, she put down the gun and turned to Sharon. "Your turn now!"

Sharon swallowed loudly, "you are right. Andy noticed you. And he likes you. You have been the reason why we have fought lately and I was home alone. I mean nothing to him, because he wants you only."

Melody smiled and breathed heavily, "perfect!" She then turned to her sister, "say bye bye Beth!"

"What? No," the thunder of the shot echoed into Sharon's ears. She was still in shock watching the woman in front of her: little, blonde and dead with a hole in her forehead.

Her time was over. Melody had just killed her sister, her own blood, her family. How much of a chance did she have to survive now? She knew that Melody hadn't believed her lies, just like she hadn't meant them.

"One less," Melody turned to Sharon with a happy face. "We are left alone. Let me call Andy to tell him the good news."

"Tell me about it, I'll personally forward the message!" Before Melody could grab her phone, FBI Agent Fritzh Howard entered the room, pointing his gun at her. He was then followed by three other FBI agents and the Major Crimes division. But Andy wasn't among them!

Sharon started crying, she had never been happier to see the FBI before. "Melody Bronson you are under arrest for the murder of…" She heard him saying the Miranda Rights and just in that moment Andy finally entered the room, wearing a vest and unarmed. He ran to Sharon but stopped at the door just as Melody was being escorted out in handcuffs.

Julio and Tao were helping him to let her down. "Slow, slow!" She fell into his arms. "I got you. I got you. Hey," Andy moved away the hair from her face and saw a little smile on her face, before he kissed her lips softly. "I found you, babe!" Sharon collapsed into his arms. She was tired and visibly hurt, Melody had kept her hydrated but little else. She was too weak to remain conscious.

The last thing she heard was Andy shouting for an ambulance and his reassuring words on the wat to the hospital, "I am here. I won't leave you. I love you!"


	37. Chapter 37

_This chapter has been reviewed by **Sarah**._

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Sharon woke up in the middle of the night, the thunders striked in the sky. She slowly opened her eyes and felt all the pain rushing through her body.

She counted her wounds. The burns on her stomach and the stab in her leg. Her left arm was wrapped in a brace and immobilized to her body. She started remembering everything that Melody had done to her, and the break of her bones was still a vivid memory in her brain. She had a few bruises all over her right arm but it was free to move, although her hand was being strongly squeezed by another.

Sharon looked quickly at the end of that arm and found Andy asleep on the side of the bed. He had his forehead pressed against his left arm and on the bed, and he was softly snoring. She smiled tenderly, his snoring had always made her smile, even if he said he didn't snore. It was a sweet moment and when she finally remembered all that had happened, she knew she didn't have to fear anything anymore. In her head she could hear his voice trembling and saying _I love you_ into her ears, and _stay with me_. He really feared finally losing her.

"Hey, you woke up," Andy said, smiling at her. "Do you feel any pain?" He stood up and leaned to softly kiss her. After eating tasteless food for days, his lips were the most wonderful flavour she could enjoy.

"I'm thirsty," her voice was low and hoarse. She felt like was stuck in her throat. Andy quickly poured some water into a plastic cup and gave it to her, holding her head until she finished it. "Andy what happened after you found me?" She asked him.

Andy sat down and held her hand again. "We brought you here with an ambulance, and the doctor had to work some magic on your leg. You had lost a lot of blood and there was an infection going through your wound, but they managed to stop it and stitch it, and then-"

"No, Andy. I meant to the case. To Melody."

"Oh, her." Andy rubbed the back of his neck. "Well we took her in custody, and the FBI interrogated her for countless hours. She didn't say a thing. Until…"

"Until?" Sharon was getting impatient on the emptiness of his words. She needed straight facts and all the truth.

"She only wanted to talk to me," he admitted it. "But I did not. I never left you. I never will. It's not my case. I'm out of it. My place is here with you. You have to recover and then we can go on with our lives. Happily ever after…" He sounded nervous and still trembling. Uncertain of what she thought about their future together, but he didn't want to discover it that night.

Sharon looked at him, "Andy. You need to talk to her. If she will do it with you only, you need to."

"All that I have to do now is to let you rest and stay right here next to you," he placed his chair closer to her bed and held her free hand into his own. He started kissing it. "I will never leave you again," he smiled and told her to rest. Sharon didn't want to but she knew he was right, she needed to rest and so he did.

When she woke up again it was sunny and the light was entering from the windows. It was almost blinding. She noticed a lot of flowers around and at her feet a pink balloon, which had been tight to the footboard. _Provenza_ , she thought smiling. He had a thing for balloons.

"Good morning," she said to the man sitting next to her. She was confused, he wasn't Andy, and she had never seen that man before. "Who are you?"

Before the man could answer, a familiar voice gave her a greeting. Chief Johnson had rushed entering with a coffee in her hands, and Sharon was happy to see someone she knew. It was uncomfortable to wake up in a hospital room, with a man she didn't know anything about. "Good morning Sharon. This is Agent Brant, and he's here to ask you some questions, but I am sure that Agent Brant will wait a few longer for you to wake up. Won't you, Agent?" Chief Johnson was, as always, pleasantly asking him to step back and walk out. She knew Sharon needed a few moments to wake up fully and understand what was happening and where Andy was. The doctors had made sure that no one was going to stress her out, so she could rest..

Brenda's eyes followed the man as he walked out. When she was sure he was out of earshot she talked to Sharon. "Lieutenant Flynn asked me to be here with you, he went downtown to talk to our suspect. Now, what you have to do," Brenda put down her bag and her coffee and got close to Sharon. "Give him details, just a few so the FBI will be happy and stop bothering you. We have enough almost enough evidence to convict her, but your testimony is going to be last piece we need to close this case."

Sharon was still half asleep and a bit dazed by the medications, but she understood clearly that Chief Johnson was asking her to tell the truth, but just leave out a few details that she could have instead revealed to Major Crimes, to solve this case. "I don't want to lie to the FBI," she had then said.

"Oh you don't have to, just take time and give it to Andy to make her confess!"

"Why aren't you there with him?"

"Oh there was a little problem of conflicts and words have been said," Sharon looked at her puzzled. Brenda took a deep breath before speaking again. "I fought with my husband over this case and Pope sent me away!"

"Oh!" Sharon had it clear that her hot temper had once again made her being exonerated from a case. She couldn't help laughing at it. It hurt her wounds to do it, but it felt good inside her soul to be able to laugh after such terrible times. "Okay!"

Sharon did as promised. She gave Agent Brant a few details, on how Melody had pretended to be her sister the whole time, on her obsession with Andy, on her tortures and her crazy thoughts about her life with Andy. Agent Brant also took pictures of all her bruises and wounds, and it had been a very humiliating moment for Sharon, to get partially undressed for him to take a picture, but thankfully Brenda had been there supporting her all through it.

When Agent Brant had left, she had revealed a lot more details to Chief Johnson. She told her about the accomplice and his death, she described how Melody killed Beth in front of her and all the tortures she had done on her and the previous victims, in great details. By the time Andy had finally come back, she was exhausted by all the talking.

"Andy can I go home now?" Sharon was tired just laying in a hospital bed, she wanted her house, her things around.

Andy waved goodbye to Brenda and moved closer sitting next to Sharon. "Not tonight, they want to monitor you to see that everything is okay. But tomorrow I promise we will go home."

Sharon snorted. "Food isn't even good in here," she sounded like a spoilt child and it made Andy laugh. "Okay, jokes apart. How did it go?" Sharon wanted to know how his conversation with Melody had gone, and she had noticed his weird behavior. He seemed uncomfortable and sad. "Andy? What's wrong?"

Andy let go of a breath, "it didn't go as we expected!"

He ended up telling her everything. He had arrived to the district and his plan had been to make Melody confess everything and drive back to the hospital to Sharon. He wanted to put an end to the whole drama of their lives. But when he had arrived every thing had gone completely different than his imagination. Melody had talked for hours about her love for him, and her plans for them to live a life together, without ever confessing anything and they didn't have any evidence to pin her to the homicides. He had tried to tease her, naming Sharon, but Melody had been impassive, even when confronted to her twin sister's death, she had said "Everyone has to die one day".

"But she confessed them to me, she told me she had killed them," Sharon was getting nervous.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Andy went on with his story and told her that once they understood she wasn't going to confess, all they could do was arresting her for kidnapping and torturing of Sharon and send her to county jail, waiting to transfer her to another prison. "Beth's husband has been informed of her death and he was approved a temporary guarded release to arrange her funeral. But he used his time out for another matter." Andy moved a hand in his hair. "He killed Melody with a knife on his way out of jail. He was coming out and she was coming in. Talk about a bad family reunion!" He looked sad, it was over but not the way he had wanted. In his heart Andy was happy that Sharon was safe and free to go back to her life, but he had also wanted to give justice to the women who had been killed because of him. He had wanted it for Lynette.

He leaned towards Sharon and took her hand in his, "I am sorry for everything you have gone through. I am sorry for all of this," he gestured to her body and her wounds. "But I promise you I will spend the rest of my life making amends for it," he kissed her hand and then moved it to his cheek. He wanted to feel the warmth of her hand on his face.

Sharon couldn't be angry at Andy. She had said it to him before that they had chosen to be together despite everything, and it wasn't his fault. He hadn't looked for it. But a soft voice into her head was screaming that after all she had gone through, this relationship had become toxic and was killing her. She had tried to silence that voice before, but its screams was too loud now to ignore it any longer. She fell asleep, tormented by this voice and nightmares.

She dreamt of what it would have happened if they hadn't found her, if after killing Beth, Melody had killed her too. And then she dreamt about a past that was different from it, a past without Andy, in which her grown-up children had married and had had children and she was happily playing with her grandchildren on the carpet of her living room. It was a past that she liked, and a dream that she enjoyed living. She woke up sweating, the morning after, and was alone in the room.

She found a note on the tray next to her: _I heard you will be released at the noon. I will be there and bring you home finally. Love, A._ Sharon tried slowly to stand up and sit on the bed. Her wounds hurt badly but she needed to learn to live with the pain until it was finally gone. She walked to the wardrobe in the room and picked something to wear, it was still early before the time to leave but she wanted to occupy her time and mind with something.

When the time to leave finally arrived, Andy walked into the room with a bouquet of flowers, "knock knock. It's time to go princ… oh hi!" He found a man standing in the room instead of Sharon. She couldn't have left without him and he didn't seem like a patient.

"Oh Andy," Sharon came out the bathroom with a few things in her hand and put them into her bag on the bed. "Andy this is Anthony. Anthony this is Andy." She introduced the two men, she looked so nervous. "Anthony came here to help me go home."

"I thought I was driving you and-"

Anthony grabbed the bag Sharon had just closed, "I'll wait for you outside." He kissed her temple before to leave and walked out passing next to Andy. "Nice meeting you," he shook his hand and so did Andy but he was very confused.

Sharon waited for Anthony to close the door, "Andy we need to talk!" She tried to be honest with him, and tell him all the truth, about her dreams and her fears.

"So you are breaking up with me, because you dreamt that you had a better life without me?" He hadn't seem to understand it, or maybe he had but he didn't want to see the truth. It hurt and it was worse that he had just met a man who was going to take his place in Sharon's life. He felt used, like a handkerchief, and thrown away for a better model, a more stable and charming man, who wasn't going to cause her any problem or issue. "No, please. You don't need to explain anything anymore." He put down the flowers and walked to the door. He put his hand on the knob and turned it, "I am happy to see you are doing better. Goodbye Sharon!" Andy walked out of the door, leaving it open.

She had wanted to run after him, to tell him it was all a joke, to tell him that she couldn't live without him, that she wanted him to go home with her, but she couldn't, she shouldn't. He needed some time and space, and she needed to put her life back on track and start over again without him.

The voice in her head had quieted down, but inside her heart she was screaming.


	38. Chapter 38

_This chapter has been reviewed by **Sarah**._

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.**

 **It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.**

* * *

Coming back to work was the hardest thing for Sharon, not so much for her job itself, but because she would be forced to face Andy. It had been three days since they last spoke at the hospital, and she knew him and how much he was going to be mad about it still now.

She was happily surprised when she walked into the murder room, "Surprise!" Everyone jumped as soon as she entered and startled her.

"Oh my, what is all this?" She couldn't believe her eyes. There was a paper banner hanging from the ceiling with written _Welcome Back_ and colored balloons all over the room.

"We thought about celebrating your return with a little bit of color and joy." Brenda walked to Sharon and hugged her. "Welcome back, Captain!"

"Thank you, Chief. I… I wouldn't have expected it," she smiled.

"Well, Flynn told us you love some sense of occasion and they all wanted to do it. Not me. I don't care," Provenza went closer and shook her hand.

"I wouldn't have doubted you didn't care, Lieutenant!" She smiled at everyone and she noticed Andy standing in a corner far from her. He had done it for her, but he wasn't going to get any close to her.

"Thank you," Sharon approached him silently and whispering.

Andy shrugged. "Nothing big. Just a little welcome back party," he poured himself some water but never met her eyes.

"Andy, I…"

"Welcome back, Captain!" He called her by rank and walked away. He was still angry, and hurt. There was nothing she could do about it. She had broken his heart. The best she could do for herself, was to let it all go behind her and move on; he seemed to have wanted it like this now, he wanted to move on. They were going to be just colleagues and pretend like nothing happened between them.

 **-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-**

"When were you exactly going to tell me about this promotion?" Andy entered Sharon's office slamming the door behind him. He was furious and fuming.

"I didn't have to tell you anything, Lieutenant. I was given a great opportunity for my career and I took it!"

After all their troubles they had had a quiet time. She had been working back into Major Crimes and trying to find the mole, Andy had been integrated again into the division and things had gone back to normal. In a few occasions Andy and Sharon had confronted each other and being verbally strong, they had fought like the old good times, and everything seemed normal again to everyone else.

But at some point everything had been twisted when they found out the mole was Gabriel's girlfriend, and indirectly Gabriel himself who had been sharing information with her in private, and she had then reported them to Peter Goldman. And then Chief Johnson had resigned from her job, after a violent meeting with Phillip Stroh, and a suspension because of it. Their worlds had been twisted, and when Provenza took over the Major Crimes division, Sharon had breathed happily to come back to her old job. Unless of special circumstances, she and Andy wouldn't have been forced to be next to each other anymore.

"Oh you just took it, and you didn't think about discussing it with me first?"

"I am sorry, but you may be confused here. I **do not have to** discuss anything with you. Not my career, not my personal life." The screams from the office could be heard outside, and every one was being silent so they could listen to every word. Even the new entry, Amy Sykes, was very curious to hear all about it.

"This is my division!" Andy shouted.

Sharon let go of a breath and lowered her voice, "you are wrong. It's mine now! And if you don't like it, ask for a transfer. Have a good day, Lieutenant!" She sat down at her desk and lowered her head pretending to be writing something.

"Oh so that's it? You are the boss and I have to obey or move out?"

"Yes, that's it. Have a good day, Lieutenant!" She was startled as Andy left her office slamming the door again.

This promotion had been a great opportunity for her career, but the fact that she was going to see him again every day, was moving something into her heart again. She had expected him to leave his transfer papers on her desk the day after, but they weren't there. And they weren't there the day after that, and the one following and so on.

It surprised her immensely when they started to develop a friendship again, slowly their trust for each other was growing back. All he had needed to do was shout at her to let it go.

 **One year later…**

Andy was nervous walking down that hallway again. It had been a long time since he had been at Sharon's condo, and now there he was, in a tuxedo walking to her door to go together to his daughter's wedding. When she had suggested him to go there with him as his buffer, he had been happy about it, but now he was regretting it. He breathed in and out a couple of times before to knock.

Sharon opened with a smile and welcomed him in, "I am almost ready. I need to find my earrings and put on my shoes then we can go." She ran away down the hall and entered her bedroom.

It made Andy feel very strange to be there again. All of a sudden the memories overwhelmed him; all their nights spent chatting on that sofa, and the cuddles and laughter as they cooked in the kitchen. How many dinners and breakfasts had he cooked for her on that stove? "Hey, where is my library?" He noticed that the library he had put together for her wasn't there anymore.

Sharon walked out of her room finally ready, "ah yeah! I gave away a few things. Memories and all!" Andy also noticed that her desk had changed, and so had the frames on the wall behind it.

"You remodelled," he looked around to see the different things.

"Well, I have a teenager with me again now," she smiled and made him understood she was ready to go.

Only in that moment, Andy noticed her. "Wow. I…ehm… you look very beautiful!"

Sharon blushed, "thank you. You look very good yourself!" She caressed his pocket handkerchief. It was turquoise blue, probably a choice of the bride, and Sharon moved his jacket just a little bit to notice his matching suspenders. She smiled.

"Well, you know me well. I couldn't go without matching," he smiled at her and for the first time he felt it wasn't a mistake. "Okay _friend Sharon_ , we can go but I need to ask you for a favor." Sharon looked at him puzzled. "They already think I am a loser, if I go with my car, they will-"

Sharon grabbed her car keys, "only if you promise to drive carefully with it!" With the new promotion to an elite division, and a young boy who wanted some independency now, Sharon had given her foster son her old car, and bought herself a new one that was more fitting for the Captain of the LAPD of the Major Crimes division.

"Sharon, this car is begging me to live a little!" When they entered the car Andy couldn't believe she had it since a year and it seemed like just coming out of the store. It was spotless. "It still smells like new!"

"Oh great!" She was satisfied by it.

"No, not great Sharon. Spill some coke, spit in it. Leave some dust to lay on the radio commands. I feel uncomfortable being here, I don't want to risk dirtying it now!"

"So don't, and now drive or we will arrive after the bride!"

The closer they got to the church, the more anxious Andy was getting. She had told him to introduce her as _his friend Sharon_ , but nobody would have believed he was **just friends** with a woman. The last thing they needed now, was remembering those times they weren't just friends and everything had turned into a risky business.

But he seemed to worry about nothing, because everyone was happy to meet Sharon as his friend and smiled at her without asking any further question. Not until the reception at least, when his ex-wife had asked. "And how did you two met?"

Andy wanted to die in that moment, it was his daughter's wedding and all the attentions had to be on her, not on him and the beautiful woman who came with him. Sharon, on the contrary, felt really comfortable answering, "we worked together for, how long is it now Andy? Twenty years? Yeah, we have been working in the LAPD and more recently I became his boss," the table laughed with her and Andy wanted to dig a deep hole in the ground and hide inside it.

From time to time, Sharon patted her hand against his leg under the table, to tell him to calm down. Everything was going good, every one was enjoying the reception, and his daughter was happy.

During the dances, Andy's ex-wife sat closer to Sharon to chat, while every one else had gone dancing. "What did you do here Sharon?" Her leg had exposed from the dress, and revealed the scar of her wounds.

She quickly covered it. "An old wound at work, crazy people!" They laughed but Andy saw Sharon's smile disappearing quickly. She was getting nervous remembering it.

He stood up and gave her his hand, "may I have the honor of a dance?" When Sharon excused herself and joined him in dancing, Andy turned to his ex-wife and gave her a nasty look. He had never hated her as much as in that moment.

It was weird to put his hands on her tiny waist again, she was skinnier than the last time they had danced, but any less beautiful, if possible even more. "I am sorry about it, I hope she didn't bother you too much!"

"It's okay, Andy. I see it every morning," Sharon put her hands around his neck and they started to slowly swing at the music's rhythm. "I see them all every day, and they remind me I am lucky to be still alive!"

They stayed in silence for a few minutes, and it took them two other songs before they began to talk again. "We have never talked about it. I was sure you needed time to process it and then everything went they way it went and I-"

Andy put a finger on her lips. "Sharon. You were right about it. You were right about breaking up with me and moving on," he smiled. "Anthony seems a nice guy. I hope he doesn't mind you coming and dancing with me now!"

Sharon looked confused and then suddenly she burst into laughter. "Oh my God, you thought..." She kept on laughing, "Anthony is my brother. You really thought that... it's too funny!"

"Well, sorry but he seemed so intimate with you. How could I know he is your brother?" They went silent again but from time to time, Sharon's snort-laughing interrupted the magic of music between them.

"I didn't..." She breathed deeply, "I didn't have anyone after you."

"Neither did I."

From the outside of their own bodies, they looked like two very shy teenagers at their first date, all dressed up like for a school prom, dancing nervously and exchanging a word every few minutes.

After the dances, Sharon was left at the table talking to Nicole and her mother, while Andy stood in a corner, sipping a cup of coffee and watching at the scene. It was evening, and the artificial lights, didn't do much justice to the beautiful skin of both Sharon and his daughter, but he enjoyed looking at them anyway. His little princess and the woman he loved, and the woman he hated the most. He decided to focus his attention only on Sharon, and seeing her laughing and being relaxed, made him happy.

"Congratulations, Andy!" A young man approached to him.

"It wouldn't hurt you if you called me _dad_ for once," he didn't turn but he recognized his son's voice.

"I kept your last name. Be happy about it!" His son had never forgiven him his past. Differently from his sister, who was trying to see all the efforts Andy was doing at being a better man and father. He only saw a drunk man who came back home, night after night, and fought to his mother, until he finally left and he didn't hear from him for months. "She is really gorgeous!"

"We are just friends," Andy corrected him immediately.

"Weird, I don't think I ever danced with a friend like that!" His son left, leaving him to his thoughts. Maybe from the outside it was perceived as something else, something he couldn't see being one of the two in that dance, but it had seem a normal dance to him. Or maybe not.

"How pensive are you today!" Andy hadn't noticed that Sharon had stood up and walked towards him. "Anything on your mind?" She grabbed his arm and put hers under it. The night brought a chill, and her thin dress wasn't enough to cover her skin from it.

"Yeah, I was thinking that it's time to go home. I saw you with high fever once, I don't want to replicate!" He put his arm around her shoulder and they walked to the table. Sharon noticed how easily he transformed a terrible experience into something funny, and she hoped that maybe at this point, they could put all this bad story behind them and have a laugh on it.

On their way home they both were silent. Andy thought Sharon was just tired, but she actually had been very pensive. "Did you ever think how it would have been if we hadn't broken up?" She asked.

Andy didn't answer, and turned to the left. "Andy you are going the wrong way, you had to turn right!"

"I know!" Sharon was puzzled and they drove for a few more miles before he stopped the car. "I am answering your question," he got off the car and ran to her side to open the door and help her out.

Sharon smiled when she saw where they had stopped. "If we hadn't broken up, today we would be celebrating our first date anniversary. It was here. And I don't think I ever said it but I am thankful to your daughter for setting it up."

"I knew it! She did it on purpose!" After all these years the truth had come out. Emily knew perfectly who he was and she had setup a blind date with him for his mother on purpose.

Andy took both Sharon's hands. "I think about you constantly, Sharon. And I am grateful I can see you every day. It doesn't matter how we are together, but every time I turn on my chair you are there and that's fine with me. I will get everything you can give me, and I will be your friend only, if it means I get to be close to you."

Sharon looked around, at those carousels without lights, and the closed ice-cream kiosk. She smiled at Andy and then left his hands. He wouldn't have expected her to do something like this, but she crossed the fences and stood in front of the merry-go-round. Many years ago, she had scolded him for doing the same.

He smiled and joined her on the other side of the fences. "For what is worth, I have never stopped loving you!" She whispered.

Andy looked at the light in her eyes, they were sparlking and she was smiling. He had a look at his watch, "it's midnight!"

"Ohhh," Sharon smiled and leaned on him. "You know what we do here at midnight? We **kiss at midnight**!" They kissed with passion and intensity, like it had been many years ago, when everything had started and it had brought them right to that point.

But this time they knew perfectly who they were, they were Sharon and Andy. And they were in _love_.

 **THE END**

* * *

 _Thank you very much for reading, liking, following and waiting for the next chapter. It has been a long run, my first long multi-chapter fanfiction and I was nervous and scared to mess, but you wiped away those fears with your kidness commenting. Thank you very much!_


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